SA vs SL: Sri Lanka Opt To Bowl As Both Sides Go With Strongest XI
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl [Twitter]
Match 4 of the World Cup 2023 features the former World Champions, Sri Lanka up against the dark horses, South Africa.
Both the teams have been in good form heading into the tournament and will be eager to kick-start with a win. For the Lankan Lions, Waninudu Hasaranga misses out of the tournament due to an unfortunate injury. On a slow Delhi surface, they'll bank on their other spinners to do the job.
Toss updates
Sri lanka won the coin flip and Shanaka had no hesitation in opting to bowl first.
Talking about both the sides, South Africa recently thrashed Australia in an ODI series, and the batters also got into their groove in the practice matches. The absence of Anrich Nortje will hurt the Proteas, but the team still boasts a plethora of pace bowlers.
The Delhi wicket will assist the spinners, and Sri Lankan skipper, Shanaka will be heavily rely on his spinners to deliver the goods.
Captain’s quotes
Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka Captain): "We are going to bowl first. Later on, there will be dew and keeping that factor in mind, we would like to bowl first. This is a very good tracks and we want to restrict to as low totals as we can.”
Temba Bavuma (South Africa Captain): "We don't mind actually (On batting first). Was either way bat or bowl first, maybe bowled first. Now, batting is the priority. We have prepared well. We didn't get the warm-up games on the full as rain had it's final say.”
Playing XIs
South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi
Sri Lanka Playing XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana
 "Anurag Dasgupta")
