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CricBattle Daily Fantasy Cricket League Tips

Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe on July 14

Before the start of the series, Zimbabwe hadn’t won a single game against Sri Lanka in their own backyard. That they will end up winning a series in the Island was never envisaged by anyone. The side punched above their weight to record a memorable series win which marks the improvement Zimbabwean cricket has had over the last couple of seasons. Zimbabwe recorded a historic series win over Sri Lanka by defeating them at their home. Last time before this series, Zimbabwe won an ODI series against a full member nation was in 2013 against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka’s cricket reached its lowest ebb in recent times as they conceded a home ODI series to minnows Zimbabwe. The series was tied at 2-2 making the last ODI in Hambantota today a virtual final which was won by the visitors by 3 wickets and 71 balls to spare. Zimbabwe will look to replicate their ODI form into the one off test while Sri Lanka will look to take revenge of ODI series loss by winning the test series.

·         Best economical pick – The hero of Zimbabwe in the 5th ODI Sikandar Raza hit two strikes across the fence to overhaul Sri Lanka’s target with a ball short of 12 overs to spare. The 31-year old was adjudged the Man of the Match was his fine all-round performance.

·         Top captains & vice captains – Hamilton Masakadza was given the Player of the Series award for his fantastic run in the 5-match ODI series. He needs to carry the form into this game and provide a brisk start. He has coped with the spin in the island well by using the sweep shot to his advantage. Danushka Gunathilaka made his first entry into a Test squad, thanks largely to his excellent ODI form over the past six weeks. Gunathilaka scored 323 runs at an average of 64.60 to top the run charts in the recent Zimbabwe series.

·       Smart pick – Dinesh Chandimal has been named Sri Lanka's new Test captain, after Angelo Mathews stepped down from the role in all formats.  Though Chandimal's patchy form in ODIs led to his exclusion from the recent squad to play Zimbabwe, he has matured as a Test batsman. He averages 41.17 since the start of 2015, and has scored 2540 runs at an average of 42.33.

·         Cautious Pick – Kusal Mendis played just 1 good innings in the ODI series where he scored 86 runs in the first ODI then got out for a first ball duck in 2 games of the ODI series.

My XI – Hamilton Masakadza (Captain), Danushka Gunathilaka (Vice-Captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Sikandar Raza, Dimuth Karunaratne, Rangana Herath, Graeme Cremer, Lakshan Sandakan, Upul Tharanga, T Musakanda, Craig Ervine