Slightly more humid conditions, yesterday has been heavy rain. Batters will target the square of the wickets which is short. Surface is more binder, might just open up later but still a good batting deck. Teams will opt to bowl first if they win the toss with rain in the forecast.
VENUE STATS
1st Innings
217Avg Runs
8Avg Wkts
78.07Avg
SR
2nd Innings
184Avg Runs
7Avg Wkts
77.1Avg
SR
Weather Update
Weather Update
Kandy,Sri Lanka
Updated: 19 Nov 19:30
23.2°CClouds
broken clouds
100%
Clouds
58%
Rain %
97%
Humidity
2.8 kmph
Wind
Playing XILineups Out
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M Bracewell
C Asalanka
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C Asalanka
Venue Details
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
Slightly more humid conditions, yesterday has been heavy rain. Batters will target the square of the wickets which is short. Surface is more binder, might just open up later but still a good batting deck. Teams will opt to bowl first if they win the toss with rain in the forecast.
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
As Charith Asalanka collects the winners' trophy for the 3-match ODI series and poses with his team for photographs, we end our coverage of New Zealand's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka this time. The hosts walk away with a 5th ODI series win from it this year, having tied the 2-match T20I series earlier. Having been host to several nations over the last few months, the Sri Lankan team will hit the road now, as South Africa and New Zealand await to host them across the next six weeks. The BlackCaps will host England for a 3-match Test series before their second white-ball assignment against Sri Lanka in as many months. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of all that, and in the meantime, keep an eye on our page for a whole lot more - there's plenty of cricketing action coming up starting later this week! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Arya Sekhar Chakraborty. See you soon!
Charith Asalanka, Sri Lanka captain: I'm really pleased with the performance. Not easy to win five consecutive series, even though at home. We give good chances for players to perform, individual players get a good run, that's the way going forward. It's a little bit settled (Sri Lanka line-up) we can still improve on a lot more things going forward. I'm enjoying captaincy, have to enjoy everything. Lots of positives this series, I want to mention Kusal Mendis for the way he batted. The bowlers too, and as a fielding unit we did a remarkable job, converting a few half-chances. The boys have been working really hard, coach is doing a fantastic job.
Mitchell Santner is the New Zealand captain, here is what he had to say: Yes for us, it's always a challenge coming here as the conditions are very different to back home. It's a shame we couldn't finish the game off today after a good start. Will Young and Henry Nicholls did well to put up a partnership but you can't help the rain in Sri Lanka. I thoroughly enjoyed my captaincy. The younger guys brought in a lot of energy. We enjoyed coming to Sri Lanka. Yeah the nature of the schedule is such, we got a few days at home and then straight back to red ball. Sri Lanka will be playing red ball cricket as well and we will be following it.
Kusal Mendis is the Player of the Series. He is not present and Avishka Fernando recieved the award and the cheque on his behalf.
Right. Time for the post-series presentation ceremony...
7:50 P.M. Local Time and IST: Ah well. Atinder's prediction comes true - the 3rd ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand has been called off. Sri Lanka, the hosts will take the series 2-0. The recent showers pretty much spoiled any chance of further play.
Atinder: "The match is to be abandoned", hate to say it, but the chances of that keep increasing with the nature of the weather at Pallekele today. Hope for the best, though - still time for a 20-over chase. The rain needs to clear out for good first thing.
7:40 P.M. Local Time and IST: Ah, never mind. Apparently, the heavens have opened up once again. So much for optimism...
Hello and welcome back! Great news coming in from the middle, the rain has stopped! Will be interesting to see what target the Sri Lanka will be set by the DLS calculation. Hopefully the rain stays away which is paramount. With the pitch conditions changing after the rain, New Zealand will still believe they can restrict Sri Lanka here.
I’m Arya, and joining me shortly will be my co-commentator Rajarshi Das to bring you every ball of this run chase! Stay tuned for more.
Innings break!
New Zealand: 112-1 after 21 overs
Will Young 56(68)* | Henry Nicholls 46(51)* | Mohamed Shiraz 5-1-23-1 | Maheesh Theekshana 4-0-15-0
Rain continues to dictate proceedings here in Pallekele, leaving us waiting for official updates on the target and overs Sri Lanka will have to chase.
New Zealand got off to a promising start after opting to bat first. Tim Robinson fell early trying to clear mid-off, only to be undone by a stunning catch from Asalanka. However, the visitors recovered well, with Will Young and Henry Nicholls stitching together a solid 88-run partnership that looked set to build a formidable total.
Just as Sri Lanka seemed poised to apply pressure in the middle overs, the rain intervened, throwing their plans into disarray. Now, all eyes are on the DLS calculations to see what target Sri Lanka will face. With conditions remaining wet and tricky, it’ll be a challenging chase whenever the rain subsides.
The big question remains: will the rain relent and let us see this game through? Stay tuned for updates as the next set of commentators brings you all the action once play resumes!
7:10 pm local time and IST:It's still raining in Pallekele! At this stage, it seems we’ve lost all the full overs due to the delay. We’re now awaiting word from the officials regarding the revised target for Sri Lanka, along with the updated number of overs.
Jubair: "Sri Lanka will be whitewashed by South Africa" -- Don't sleep on Sri Lanka Jubair, they might do something special and shock you, like they did back in 2019
6:40 pm local time and IST: Not much has changed since the last 40 minutes, it still continuous to rain in Pallekele and the waiting game goes on!
Soorya:"I think it'll be a 1-1 draw. Durban and Gqeberha are venues Sri Lanka won't mind playing in. Unless green tops are rolled out at the start of the South African season. They've picked more seamers too." -- Interesting Soorya, Sri Lanka are capable of springing up a surprise and we could see one on this tour
While we wait, send in your predictions for Sri Lanka's series against South Africa later this month. The best predictions will be featured on our feed
6 pm local time and IST: Might just be that kind of a day, and it's not a drizzle anymore, it has gotten heavier. We wait for the rain to subside for now.
5:55 pm local time and IST: Uh-oh, the rain is back and the covers are coming back on. This is not good news, all the work that the groundstaff did for the past hour has gone down the drain.
5:40 pm local time and IST: Next inspection is scheduled for 6 pm local and IST!
Video
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M Bracewell
C Asalanka
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Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
