Sri Lanka v West Indies: Dilshan to help edge hosts into semi-finals
Published:Despite both finishing in second place during the group stage, Sri Lanka and West Indies avoided the Super Eight ‘group of death’ in the next round.
And having overcome New Zealand in dramatic super over fashion, the 2012 T20 World Cup hosts are priced at 8/11 to defeat West Indies and make the last four.
Playing on home soil at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in the central province of Kandy, gives Sri Lanka the advantage over their Caribbean rivals.
Sri Lanka have reached the semi-finals of the last two T20 World Cup’s, painfully finishing as runners-up to England in this tournament two years ago.
On the other hand, West Indies squandered their status as host nation in 2010, ironically losing their key Super Eight fixture with Sri Lanka by 57 runs.
In fact, the 2009 competition also saw Sri Lanka knock out the Windies by the same number of runs, this time at the semi-final stage.
Lightning looks set to strike for a third time in succession, with the joint 7/2 favourites for the trophy on a high after their stunning late success last time out.
In the batting department, the home side’s Tillakaratne Dilshan will be hoping to add to his tally of 115 runs after scoring an impressive 76 against New Zealand. He is 11/4 to hit a fifty versus West Indies.
Mahela Jayawardene has been slightly off-colour with the bat so far this tournament, although three sixes in his last outing hint at some form resurfacing. Jayawardene is evens to score at least one six this time around.
Windies batsman Johnson Charles is also dangerous having hit 12 fours already in the tournament, and battered England for 84 runs from 56 balls in his last match. He is priced at 5/6 to hit more than 2.5 fours again.
In the other markets, West Indies star Chris Gayle is the 5/1 favourite to be man of the match, offering a threat with both the bat and ball.
And Ajantha Mendis has been a useful bowling outlet for Sri Lanka, taking seven wickets so far. He is worth backing at 6/4 to out bowl his counterpart Sunil Narine.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
