Sri Lanka vs South Africa 2018, Only T20I: 3 reasons why South Africa will win the match

South Africa’s bowlers have been too hot to handle for the hosts

Lungi Ngidi

Sri Lanka have been struggling to handle the South African bowlers in the ODI series. The Test team was able to handle the likes of Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi rather well. Keshav Maharaj’s returns from the two-match series was the standout performance from a Proteas point of view.

But it’s almost like once the color of the jersey changes, Sri Lanka’s batsmen don’t seem to have any solutions to tackle the bowling. The pitches seen in the ODI series have had decent carry and bounce but on a whole have been batting friendly pitches.

But yet the likes of Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabadda and Tabraiz Shamsi have completely controlled the battle against Sri Lanka. The bowlers have hit the deck, extracted bounce and pace and have used their variations rather effectively.

Not too much will change when the teams face off in the T20I. Sri Lanka need to attack the fast bowlers from the word go to put them out of their set plans. Kusal Perera and Niroshan Dickwella should take the responsibility to bring the momentum in the start of the T20I. Once the momentum shifts in your favor it’s hard to stop a team.

It certainly will be interesting to see how the same bowlers who dominated the Sri Lankan batsmen fare in the one-off T20I. Can Lungi Ngidi deliver yet another solid performance?