ICC World Cup 2019 Sri Lanka Team Squads

Sri Lanka is one of the ten teams contesting for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. The 1996 champions have a strong record in World Cup events, becoming runners-up in 2007 and 2011 World Cup Tournaments. The team performed well to reach Quarterfinals in previous World Cup edition.

Although, due to the dismal performance in the recent past, Sri Lanka is not considered as the favorites to win the ICC World Cup 2019. The majority of critics list Sri Lanka as one of the weakest teams to contest in the tournament. Currently, the team sits at number 9 in ODI Team Rankings.

The Sri Lanka team for ICC world cup 2019 tournament is led by new captain Dimuth Karunathne. Though he has not played ODI for four years, he has proved as a talented player and captain in the Test squad. His promotion comes as a surprise to the cricketing world. 

The key players in the team Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews. The senior players combine two decades of experience to the team and their performance in the world cup tournament has been impressive. Both players are the only remaining players to be named to All-time Sri Lanka World Cup XI. Lasith Malinga is the highest active wicket taker with 43 wickets before the tournament.

The majority of specialist batsmen in the team are young but talented. The batsmen include Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, and Lahiru Thirimanne Avishka Fernando. Avishka Fernando is a newcomer who scored heavily in the domestic arena and for the Sri Lanka A-Team. Kusal Perera is will provide an explosive opening for the team, while others can provide stability and power to the middle order.

The allrounders in the team can provide an immense contribution to the team to win the matches with the likes of Thisara Perera and Isuru Udana and Dhananjaya De Silva, Milinda Siriwardana and Jeevan Mendis.

The Sri Lankan bowling attack will be spearheaded by Lasith Malinga along with the rest of the fast bowlers Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Isuru Udana. Thisara Perera could provide medium-fast bowling for the team. 

The spin bowling unit will include a new-comer specialist leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay. The allrounders can offer various spin options like Dhananjaya De Silva for off-break, Milinda Siriwardana for orthodox and Jeevan Mendis for leg-break. 

Despite being a young team with underdog tag, Sri Lanka team will no doubt bring upsets and some surprises during the tournament. The key strength lies in their bowling and fielding performance. Even though the team lacks few hard-hitting batsmen, there are some players who could add stability. With the right guidance from the senior players and strong performance from the youngsters, the team could perform better before.

Source: http://www.cricket-360.com/icc-world-cup-2019-sri-lanka-team/