Sri Lanka will lock horns against New Zealand on 18th September at Galle. The series consist of two Test series.
Match preview:
Last time, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the longest format of the game was in 2023 where Blackcaps sealed a series victory at their backyard. But this time the side will be facing Sri Lanka at their home ground and honestly the Asian conditions are always have been tough for New Zealand.
Despite winning the inaugural World Test Championship, they are yet to win a Test series away home. Although they managed to draw the series against Pakistan in 2022 but this time, they would be looking to break a curse maybe they should seek inspiration from Harry Potter.
New Zealand last played a Test series against South Africa where they whitewashed the side and won their first ever Test series against the nation. Before the Sri Lankan series, the Black Caps were supposed to play a one-off Test against Afghanistan which was abandoned without a single bowl being bowled due to rain and wet out field conditions.
Kane Williamson will have to play a key role if New Zealand want to secure the Galle Fort – a venue where they had never won a Test before. The services of Rachin Ravindra would be crucial as the expectations from him are high after how he has settled himself as a vital cog in the white-ball game format.
Talking about Sri Lanka, they would be pretty much happy with their performance in the England series and their confidence will be higher in this upcoming series. Sri Lanka won the last Test match against England against all odds, although they lost the series but their performance with the bowl was particularly amazing. Lahiru Kumara and Ashitha Fernando were the key pacers for the Lanka while Kamindu Mendis and Pathum Nissanka done superb job with the bat.
If anything, SL will look to revenge the last year test match series and if anything, Prabath Jayasuriya will play a key role as he has played six matches at Galle so far and took 53 wickets across 12 innings.
Probable playing xis:
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kamindu Mendis, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), 7 Kusal Mendis (wk), 8 Ramesh Mendis, 9 Prabath Jayasuriya, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Lahiru Kumara
New Zealand (probable): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee (capt), 10 Matt Henry/Ben Sears/Will O’Rourke, 11 Ajaz Patel.
Pitch and weather report:
The pitch of Galle is known for heaven for the spinners, although it assists the pacers as well in the beginning, but as the pitch gets older it assists spinners perfectly.
Talking about the weather conditions, the rain is expected in the first Test match of the series while the fans will hope and sing “rain rain go away”
Head-to-head record:
Sri Lanka and New Zealand have played 38 Test matches so far and the former have won 9 while the latter stood victorious in 18 matches.
Predictions:
Although New Zealand has got better head-to-head record, but Sri Lanka are favorite to win the first Test of the series considering they have got home advantage and a Test match win against England in England would help too.
Where to watch:
Pakistan: Tapmad
India: SonyLiv and Fan Code app
New Zealand: SKY Sport.
UK: TNT Sports 1
Others: CricHD
