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With the huge win at Sydney Sri Lanka's hopes in the CB series are still alive. That was their 1st win in the series after 2 loses & a tie. Remarkably all those games were tight contests. This win is Mahela's 2nd as a captain in Australia against Australia in 6 efforts. Previous occasion was at Melbourne in February 2008.

 

Traditionally Sydney pitch has some assistance for spinners. Many were expecting Sri Lanka to play two spinners on this track. But Mahela Jayawardena had some other ideas considering the weather conditions & grass on the surface. They left out young off spinner Sachithra Senanayake from the playing XI and included all rounder

 

Farveez Maharoof, who played his last ODI in 24th June in 2010. And took an important decision to drop ODI specialist Upul Tharanga for youngster Lahiru Thirimanne.

Sri Lanka captain's plan worked out really well from the start. Bowlers were bowling good line and lengths, feilders helped good bowling with their best. Non of the Australian top order batsmen were able to convert their starts in to a good 50, 70 runs. At the end of the 26th over, game interrupted by rain & resumption was after almost 2 hours as a 41 overs per side contest. They were 88/6 at that stage. Once again David Hussey proved him self with a fighting half century. That makes him the highest run getter in the series so far. Thanks to his efforts Australia managed to get a reasonable score of 158 for all out in 40.5 overs of their 41. Maharoof made a good come back with a spell of 8 - 1 - 18 - 2.

 

Since Upul Tharanga was dropped, Sri Lanka's captain Jayawardena had the opportunity to enjoy his batting on his favorite batting position. He did that with an unbeaten 61. His & Dilshan's opening stand of 74 is the best opening partnership in this series so far. Dilshan also looked like getting back into his devastating form. But unfortunately missed out on 50. Sri Lanka won the game with ease in 24.1 overs with the bonus point. Sangakkara became the 10th member to join the club of 10 000 ODI runs. He is the 3rd Sri Lankan to do so, also quickest from the lot.

End of this 6th match of the Commonwealth Bank Series, we are at the halfway stage of the qualifying  rounds. Considering another 6 more matches to come, (4 matches per each team) All the teams are in a crucial situation of the series. Let's see Sri Lanka's possibilities of getting selected to the finals.

 

Points table at the moment

Case 1 :-

Sri Lanka winning all the remaining 4 matches : No problem at all. They can easily qualify for the finals. Either Australia or India will qualify depending on other 2 matches.

Case 2 :-

If Sri Lanka could win 3 out of 4 matches : Still it will be enough to qualify for finals with at least 19 points & also have a very good chance to go top of the table.

Case 3 :-

Sri Lanka winning just 2 matches : things  becomes bit tricky here. There are few ways this could happen.

• Possibility i -

All the teams winning 2 matches each.

 

 

Bit tough situation for Sri Lanka. Their chances depends on taking 2 bonus points, net run rate & Australia not getting any bonus points. Surely Sri Lanka won't be happy in this scenario.

• Possibility ii -

Australia v Sri Lanka --> Australia

India v Sri Lanka --> Sri Lanka

Australia v India  --> Australia

Australia v Sri Lanka --> Australia

India v Sri Lanka --> Sri Lanka

Australia v India --> Australia

 

 

Australia will be on top of the table with at least 25 points & Sri Lanka will be 2nd with at least 15 points. 3 finals between Sri Lanka vs Australia.

 

• Possibility iii -

Australia v Sri Lanka --> Sri Lanka

India v Sri Lanka --> India

Australia v India  --> India

Australia v Sri Lanka --> Sri Lanka

India v Sri Lanka --> India

Australia v India --> India

 

 

India winning all their remaining matches & Sri Lanka winning 2. India will be on top with at least 26 points & Sri Lanka in 2nd with at least 15.

• Possibility iv -

Sri Lanka winning 2 matches and Australia winning 3 matches :

 

 

Australia will be on top of the table with at least 21 points. If India able to win their wining match with the bonus point & Sri Lanka couldn't get any bonus points, both teams will stay with 15 points each. So nut run rate will be a factor in this scenario.

• Possibility v -

Sri Lanka winning 2 matches and India winning 3 matches :

 

 

India & Sri Lanka will qualify with at least 22 & 15 points.

 

So to qualify for finals without much trouble Sri Lanka better win at least 3 out of their remaining 4 matches. [Of course we assumed that there won't be any tie matches again in this series]

 

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