Already assured of their places in the Super Eight stage of the ICC World Twenty20, both Sri Lanka and South Africa would be eyeing a win to top their pool when they play against each other in the marquee Group C clash here tomorrow.
Both hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa had easy outings in their openers against Zimbabwe, who became the first team to crash out of the event with two consecutive losses.
While Sri Lanka mauled Zimbabwe by 82 runs, South Africa hammered Brendan Taylor’s men by 10 wickets.
Therefore, there will be very little to choose between the two sides ahead of the cracking contest at the Mahinda Rajapaksa stadium here, which will determine the group winners going into the business end of the tournament.
The Lankans will be banking heavily on home advantage tomorrow to give them the edge over perennial under-achievers South Africa, who were ruthless against the Zimbabweans.
Most of the Lankan batsmen looked in good shape and got starts against Zimbabwe.
But come tomorrow, the scenraio will be different as in South Africa they face a potent bowling attack which has the capability of dismantling any batting line-up.
In such a case, the onus would be on the experienced trio of captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan to deliver the goods with the bat.
Even though Dilshan Munaweera looked decent with the bat against Zimbabwe, one expects Dinesh Chandimal to replace him against South Africa, which means Jayawardene will have to open the innings along with Tillakaratne Dilshan.
In Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera, the Lankans have enough fire power in their lower middle—order.