CWC 2019: Strengths and weaknesses of each team

#9 Sri Lanka

Dimuth Karunaratne.

Strengths: Sri Lanka's decline from one of the top ODI sides to almost the rock-bottom has been a gradual one but even if you take a look at the team now, there are sparks of brilliance which somehow refuse to come together.

Sri Lanka's biggest strength will obviously be their twin all-rounders in Angelo Matthews and Thisara Perera and also the strong No.3 and No.4 combination of Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis. These 4 players will be the key for Sri Lanka along with skipper Dimuth Karunaratne who made a solid return to the ODI format and stroked a patient 87 against South Africa in the warm-up fixture.

Kusal Mendis and Kusal Perera are explosive batsmen who have been the only bright sparks for Sri Lanka for a long time. Mendis can also open the batting and has fared well in that position too. Angelo Matthews' consistency with the bat is a welcome occurrence but Thisara Perera's constant failures is a cause for concern.

Weaknesses: A lot of weaknesses plague the 'Islanders' and the most primary concern being the highly ineffective showings of their spin bowlers.

They have been unable to pick up wickets and have been taken apart by oppositions and this prevents Sri Lanka from taking control of the middle overs which are a crucial part of the game. They have been expensive and haven't been able to pick up more than one wicket and players like Vandersay and Jeevan Mendis need to be given a talking to by the captain.

Also, the lack of contributions from their lower middle order is a worrying sign for Sri Lanka. Though they have a decent top order which lasts until Angelo Matthews, beyond that, the contributions haven't been coming from the other all-rounders like Thisara Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva and Jeevan Mendis and Sri Lanka need to remedy this before it puts too much pressure on their top order.