Embattled Sri Lanka Hope For World Cup Miracle

Colombo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd May, 2019 ) :Sri Lanka go into the World Cup with low expectations after losing eight of their last nine one-day matches and led by a captain who has not played 50-over cricket for more than four years.

While the 1996 champions have enjoyed some success in the Test arena, they have lost more than three-quarters of the ODI matches they have played since the beginning of 2017.

During that period, Sri Lanka have been led by six different captains, the most recent of whom is Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne.

Karunaratne, who is regarded as one of the best batsman in the five-day format, had not been part of Sri Lanka's ODI set-up since the 2015 edition, largely because of his low scoring rate in limited-overs matches.

With the team's top order having routinely proved fragile during the series against South Africa in March, the solidity Karunaratne offers as opener has proved attractive to team selectors.

In his first assignment as Test captain, the 31-year-old led Sri Lanka to a 2-0 win in South Africa, to make the islanders only the third team after Australia and England to win a Test series there.

But the skipper would have to preform a near miracle to make his team into serious contenders for the biggest prize in ODI cricket.

The left-handed Karunaratne re-started his ODI journey with a bang after scoring 77 off 88 balls to guide his team to a 35-run win over Scotland via the Duckworth-Lewis method on Tuesday.

His predecessor, Lasith Malinga, leads the team's pace attack and is fresh from a title with Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.