With a reassuring 148-run win against Scotland, Sri Lanka have become a strong contender for the third position in Pool A of the ICC 2015 World Cup. Gaining the third spot in the group will give the team an advantage of avoiding a quarter-final clash against India, who are the leaders in Pool B.
However, at present they hold the second spot with eight points and all six games played. Behind them are the hosts Australians, with seven points and a match to be played yet. They face the losers of today’s game and a victory is written for the Kangaroos unless Scottish deliver some extraordinary performance.
The win against Scotland will return Aussies their second spot in Pool A and push down Lankans to third place.
Playing five games, Angelo Mathews’ side has managed to win against England, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and lost to Kiwis and Aussies.
Bangladesh have seven points in their kitty from five matches. Having won three games, they got an additional point as their match against Australia got washed out in rain. That point has given them an edge over the 1996 ICC World Cup champions.
A win for Bangladesh in their next clash will push the “islanders” to the fourth spot in the group. And that will leave them battling Australians for the second spot in terms of a better net run-rate.
However, the possibility for such a scenario is remote as Bangladesh are facing New Zealand - the team which has been unbeaten in the ongoing tourney so far – in their next clash.
Bangladesh has a history of eliminating a prominent player from their group in every world cups they played so far, though they have not yet succeeded to cross over the initial stage. If it was India in 2007, in 2011 and 2015 England became the victim of Tigers’ fury.
Undoubtedly, Mashrafe Mortaza’s side will want to change this and make things happen for his team. Brendon McCullum can not afford to underestimate the men in green in order to continue their winning streak in the mega event. In their last game against England, where they knocked the latter out of the event, Bangladesh gave all the top teams the message that they have come here to win.