New Zealand have won the toss and have opted to field
More from Pratyush Sinha at the venue: Gary Stead giving some slip-catching practice to Conway, Neesham and Daryl Mitchell.
Pitch report by Mark Howard and Sanjay Manjrekar: "There's been heavy thunderstorms in the last two or three days. Groudsmen say it should be okay today though. Still 80% chance of precipitation. Square boundaries are not large, 67m to one side and 60m to the other. Pitch is a batting beauty. Least pace reduction off the pitch here in this World Cup which means it comes on to the bat better. Captains will be desperate to chase. Cloudy and humid right now but no rain."
Nice to have a couple of days off. We played some golf. We played our last game here. We have some good memories. We played well against Pakistan. We are trying to stay consistent as possible. Couple of results didn't go our way. It is about being consistent.
SL batters and NZ batters have the task cut. The brawns for a change will be preferred over brains here. That day even 400 looked chaseable. I don't need to elaborate much. Every run counts at the Chinnaswamy. NZ are at the last hurdle. They can't trip here. Else the finalists from 2019 stand a chance of elimination. SL have been all over the place but they want a ticket for the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. If they don't win today, they run the risk of being TIMED OUT for that flight.
NZ batters have been putting the runs on the board pretty frequently. KW was included in the playing XI. He took to scoring like Duck takes to water. Rachin Ravindra became the toast of Chinnaswamy and his name will again be echoed out loud if he gets going today. But NZ's bowlers barring Mitch Santner have slipped under the radar and haven't done much worth noticing. Chinnaswamy is the harsh reality that bowlers come to terms to. It is a batsman's game and every inch of the grandeur in Bengaluru makes you realize that. Flat wicket. Short boundaries. The ball flying around. Fielders are aberrations. Cricket gets reduced to a boxing game where two boxers don't jab at each other but at the punching bag - sadly the bowlers.
NZ are coming into this on the back of 4 straight losses. Their confidence has been shaken. They fought valiantly against India and Australia. SA crushed them. Pakistan and rain edged them. Rain did choose Pakistan that day. NZ want a fair deal today.
Our early bird Pratyush Sinha says, "Hello from Chinnaswamy! It's very overcast at the moment. Lockie and Neesham are sat near the outfield as Boult, Southee, Phillips, Rachin, Santner and Sodhi bowl on one of the side pitches on the square."
12:45 Local Time, 07:15 GMT, 12:45 IST: Imagine 25 crore people at a distance at least 2000 kms praying for rain in Bengaluru. Persistent rain which washes off a game will come as a blessing for Pakistan. That's exactly what their fans would be praying. Bengaluru and Rains, never ending love affair. The locals will quietly nod to this as well. NZ fans want a full game. SL fans want two points for the Champions Trophy qualification. Indian fans are hedging their bets. Too many prayers and a few will go unanswered today. But Pakistan are looking for a back door entry. They tried so in 2019 but were pipped right at the door. 2023 might as well mimick 2019 if NZ beat SL.
Preview by Pratyush Sinha
It's an unusual place to be. The penultimate week of a World Cup is usually about teams looking to peak if not qualify for the semifinals. But in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, we have two sides coming in with seven consecutive defeats between them. So even if you factor out New Zealand needing a win to stay in contention for the last remaining semifinal spot, or Sri Lanka needing a win to stay in contention for Champions Trophy qualification, a win will still be at a premium.
But as you'd expect, there's a twist. Whether there will be a winner at all is currently up for debate. It's been raining on and off in Bengaluru in the lead-up to the match, with two of New Zealand's optional training sessions interrupted by sharp showers. Looking back, you wouldn't blame them for thinking that it never stopped raining in the city since Saturday, when Fakhar Zaman's century thrust Pakistan ahead of the DLS par score and rendered New Zealand's total in excess of 400 all but redundant.
On Thursday, Kane Williamson and Co. will be back at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to play yet another World Cup match, hoping that it isn't "one of those days" this time around. Of course, a gap in their itinerary would have helped make sense of things but the build-up couldn't have been more contrasting for Kusal Mendis's side.
Only a couple of days ago, Sri Lanka lost their first-ever World Cup match to Bangladesh. And as if that wasn't enough food for thought in the days to follow, Angelo Mathews's timed-out dismissal, his frustration and his time-stamped proofs on social media constituted some great political football across mediums. Is that the spark the team might need? Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan spoke of how appealing for the time-out and then standing by his decision spurred the "warrior" in him, and Sri Lanka will hope that it's something similar for Mathews who's also 36 and hasn't had the kind of tournament that he perhaps merits.
When: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, on November 9, 2023 at 2:00 pm local
Where: M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
What to expect: Some stoppages in play. The pitch for this game is a little to the side of the square, so the spinners might face an even more uphill battle at a venue that's been unkind to them. Of all the ten World Cup venues this time, Chinnaswamy Stadium has the worst average and strike-rate for spinners.
Team Watch
New Zealand
Kane Williamson spoke how it's the first time that the entire available squad is fit, or "fit-ish". Expect Lockie Fergson to come in for Ish Sodhi, who had a hard time against Pakistan. That said, Kyle Jamieson had a long bowl in the nets at New Zealand's optional training on match eve.
Tactics & Strategy
New Zealand went in with just two frontline seamers in their last match, expecting that "spin would be perhaps most threatening." What panned out couldn't be farther from that. Ish Sodhi gave away 44 runs in the four overs he bowled against Pakistan and Rachin Ravindra's part-time spin wasn't even called upon. Even someone in as good a rhythm as Mitchell Santner went at 7 runs per over. It's likely that fit-again Lockie Ferguson would slot back right in and partner pace-bowling duties with Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
Probable XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult
Sri Lanka
For their last match, Sri Lanka brought in Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva into the side and are likely to stick with the same combination at what's another high-scoring ground.
Tactics & Strategy
Dilshan Madushanka has been a force with the new ball, picking the second most number of wickets in first PowerPlay this tournament, but it's in the middle overs that Sri Lanka have let games slip. Their spinners have fared the worst out of all ten teams. And this time around, they will have their work cut out against Rachin Ravindra, who has scored the most runs in the middle overs (11-40) in this edition.
Average first innings score in ODIs in Bengaluru since 2013 is 321
Only Marco Jansen has more wickets (12) than Madushanka in overs 1-10
The previous game at the venue saw an overall match run-rate of 7.96
NZ have won each of the last seven ODIs against SL and last lost to SL in World Cups in 2011
What they said
"We sort of knew the talent was there, but to come out and repeat and be one of the players of the tournament so far, not only with the bat, but he's also making really valuable contributions with the ball. Yeah, very, very special player and great that he's on our side" - New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is all praise for Rachin Ravindra
"When you look at the bigger picture, we made mistakes in all three departments in most of the games. Our fielding was not up to the mark and whenever we batted, we didn't bowl well" - Sri Lanka Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz with an honest assessment
Squads:
New Zealand Squad: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, James Neesham, Will Young
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
