The 4th ODI match of the Australia tour of Sri Lanka, 2022 is scheduled to play on Tuesday, 21st June 2022 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Sri Lanka lost the T20 series 2-1 but had won two out of three matches played in the ODI series of five matches. Now they are leading the series and need just one win out of the remaining two ODI matches. This series had been disturbed by the rain as two out of three matches were decided through the DLS method. Australia is still in the ODI series but they have to win this match to remain in the series. Australia is not a weak team. They can bounce back strongly in any match. This match is going to be very interesting as both teams will play with their full strength.

The bowling department of Sri Lanka had been under pressure in this home series against Australia. We saw this in the T20 series and also in the ODI matches. The most recent match was a big example of it where they leaked 291 runs in their inning of 50 overs. Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dhananjaya de Silva, and the captain, Dasun Shanaka are leading the bowling department of Sri Lanka. Vandersay was the most successful bowler in the previous match with three wickets to his name in 10 overs while he was charged for 49 runs. Chameera, Dhananjaya de Silva, and D Wellalage picked one wicket each.

M Theekshana, C Karunaratne, and Dasun Shanaka were the bowlers who could not manage to pick any wicket. The batting department of Sri Lanka had been just superb especially in this ODI series. Niroshan Dickwella, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, and Charith Asalanka are the leading batters of Sri Lanka. Pathum Nissanka was the most successful batter in the previous match who scored a century. He scored a total of 137 runs with the help of 11 boundaries and two huge sixes. Kusal Mendis was the other batter who was just good with the bat. He scored 87 runs with a strike rate of 102. He smashed eight boundaries during his inning.

Australia is overall a strong and experienced team when we compare it with Sri Lanka but they had not performed well as many of us were expecting. The batting department of Australia is known as one of the strongest batting orders in the world. David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, Labuschagne, Alex Carey, Travis Head, and Glenn Maxwell are the star batters of Australia. They were good in the previous match where they scored 291 runs in 50 overs. Almost all batters from their side put some runs on the board. Head was the highest run-scorer in the previous match with 70 runs to his name on 65 balls with the help of three boundaries and the same huge sixes. Aaron Finch was the other batter who put some runs on the board. He scored a total of 62 runs and smashed four boundaries and one huge six during his inning.

Alex Carey also performed well in the previous match but he was also unlucky as he could not complete his fifty and scored 49 runs. Glenn Maxwell scored 33 runs while Labuschagne could manage to score 29 runs. Australia lost the previous match due to the worst performance by their bowling department. They failed to defend the target of 292 runs and leaked this target in 48.3 overs. Josh Hazlewood, Jhye Richardson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Kuhnemann, Cameron Green, Marnus Labuschagne, and Travis Head were the key bowlers of Australia in the previous match. Jhye Richardson was the only successful bowler in the previous match from the side of Australia who picked two wickets in nine overs while he was charged for 39 runs. Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood picked one wicket each while no other bowler from their side could manage to pick any wicket.

Sri Lanka had played a total of 875 ODI matches where they won 399 while opposing teams had won 433 matches. Their 32 matches were ended with no result and five matches were tied.

Australia had played 965 ODI matches so far. They had won 583 matches and had lost 339 matches. Their 34 matches were ended with no result and nine matches were tied.

Australia had played 101 matches against Sri Lanka where they had won 62 matches while Sri Lanka had won 35 matches. Four matches between these two teams were ended with no result.

According to the match prediction, Australia is the favorite team to win this match. The reasons why Australia is a favorite team in this match, are mentioned below:

• Sri Lanka had won two out of three ODI matches played till now
• Australia is overall a strong team when we compare it with Sri Lanka
• The bowling department of Sri Lanka is back in the good form
• The batting order of Australia is in good form
• Australia also has a strong bowling department
• Sri Lanka has the advantages of home ground and crowd

Australia is overall a strong team and they have a lot of experience when it comes to the ODI format of cricket, so the winning chances of today’s match for Australia have been increased. The equation of winning chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

Australia has a 54% chance to win this match
Sri Lanka has a 46% chance to win this match

The toss will play an important role in the decision of each match of this series. As per toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may elect to bat first.

The st match of Australia vs Sri Lanka will be played at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. The pitch at this stadium is good for batting but is one of the slower pitches in the Caribbean. Run-scoring is not going to be very easy and that could actually be a good thing for both teams. A total of 170 runs can be a par score

The weather forecast for Colombo on match day is not very good. Rain is predicted for most of the day and so it looks like we are going to struggle to get a game in.

Sri Lanka
Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Pathum Nissanka.

Australia
David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood.

Captain: D Warner
Vice-Captain: W Hasaranga
K Mendis, A Finch, M Marsh, D Gunathilaka, P Nissanka, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazelwood, K Richardson, J Richardson

Date: Tuesday, 21st June 2022
Time: 09:00 AM GMT / 02:30 PM LOCAL / 02:30 PM IST

Stadium: R.Premadasa Stadium
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Opened: 1986
Capacity: 35,000
Known as: Khettarama Stadium (until June 1994)
Ends: Khettarama End, Scoreboard End
Time Zone: UTC +05:30
Home to: Sri Lanka
Floodlights: Yes

Total matches: 138
Matches won batting first: 74
Matches won bowling first: 54
Average 1st Inns scores: 236
Average 2nd Inns scores: 197
Highest total recorded: 375/5 (50 Ov) by IND vs SL
Lowest total recorded: 86/10 (29.3 Ov) by NED vs SL
Highest score chased: 292/4 (48.3 Ov) by SL vs AUS
Lowest score defended: 204/7 (50 Ov) by SL vs IND

Danushka Gunathilaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Chandimal, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Lahiru Madushanka, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Pramod Madushan, Nuwan Thushara, Pathum Nissanka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana.