World Cup 2023, Match 8: Pakistan take on Sri Lanka in Hyderabad - Preview and result prediction

Match 8 of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 edition will see Asian giants Sri Lanka and Pakistan lock horns with each other at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday (Oct10). Both teams are coming into this face-off on the back of contrasting results in their respective tournament openers.

While Babar Azam-led Pakistan beat the Netherlands by 81 runs, Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lanka put up a valiant fight versus the mighty South Africans, in pursuit of 429, but lost by 102 runs. Thus, the battle between two strong Asian sides promises to be an enthralling one on Tuesday evening.

In head-to-head at the World Cup, the 1992 winners have a clear edge over the Islanders with a 7-0 record (in eight games). Pakistan have beaten the Sri Lankans in eight out of the last nine ODIs. The Lankans, however, edged past them in their last face-off, which was during a tight Super Four contest in the Asia Cup last month.

PITCH CONDITIONS AND MATCH PREDICTION

Talking about the pitch, it has beenflat and allowed for easy run-scoring despite a bit of turn on offer.Pakistan have played three matches at the venue and, thus, will start as favourites due to the familiarity factor,recent past record andan unbeaten streak over the opposition in World Cup history. Expect a 260-280 kind of surface, which can be a winning total. Will Pakistancontinue their winning run over SL? Well, likely so!

WHAT THEY SAID

"Pakistan is quite a strong opposition. The only advantage that we have is that we have been playing Pakistan recently in the Asia Cup as well, so both teams know quite well about each team's strengths, weaknesses, whatever it may be. I think it's going to be a good tussle" - Naveed Nawaz, Sri Lanka's assistant coach.

"We've got full faith in our top order. They will click at some stage. And we're open and honest to say that we're not getting what we would like out of the Powerplay as yet. But we're certainly very happy with other phases of our game which have kicked into gear and did enough the other night to get over the line" - Grant Bradburn, Pakistanhead coach.

Predicted Playing XIs:

According to Dav Whatmore, Sri Lanka's 1996World Cup-winning coachand WION's in-house expert, the potential XIs are expected to appearlike this:

Pakistan XI: Fakhar Zaman, Iman-ul-Haq, BabarAzam, SaudShakeel, MohammedRizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Nawaz, Haris Rauf, S. Afridi, HasanAli

Sri Lanka XI:PatthumNissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, CharithAsalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, DunithWellalage, Dilshan Madushanka, Maheesh, Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana

Match-upsto watch out for:

Fakhar Zaman vs Maheesh Theekshana
Babar Azam vs DilshanMadushanka
Mohammed Rizwan vs Dunith Wellalage
Kushal Perera vs Shaheen ShahAfridi
Kushal Mendis vs Haris Rauf
Dasun Shanaka vs Hasan Ali

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