West Indies field against Sri Lanka in must-win clash

ABU DHABI, Nov 4, 2021 (AFP) – West Indies won the toss and decided to field against Sri Lanka on Thursday in a T20 World Cup match they must win to keep alive their slim semi-final hopes.

The champions have two points from three games and must beat Sri Lanka, who are already eliminated, as well as Australia to have any chance of making the last-four.

Even then, they will still need other results to go their way while also needing to improve their poor run rate.

“There’s a lot of different things around, the mathematical equations, but as a team we are comfortable and hopefully can do well,” said West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard.

West Indies are unchanged for the match while Sri Lanka, who are playing their final game of the tournament, brought in Binura Fernando for fellow seamer Lahiru Kumara.

“We tried our best, but our batting department hasn’t really worked. If it really clicked, we could have made it to the semis,” said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera (wk), Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Binura Fernando

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (capt), Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Langton Rusere (ZIM)

TV Umpire: Paul Wilson (AUS)

Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)