Sri Lanka faces South Africa on Sunday in the second Twenty-20 (T20) match. The game begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. Watch the live stream HERE or ESPN's live stream HERE.
After a forgettable ODI series against Sri Lanka, South Africa bounced back in the first T20 match and won by 12 runs. A win on Sunday would clinch the T20 series for South Africa and help make up for the squad's poor performance in the ODI series.
Sri Lanka, which won four of the five ODI matches, perhaps hadn't expected South Africa to put up a fight in the first T20. Sri Lanka's batsmen had performed well in the ODIs, but had a dismal outing in the last match, CricBuzz.com reports.
Kumar Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka with an unbeaten score of 59. The lack of batting support was the squad's undoing - Kusal Perera scored the second highest (11), and nine batters fell for single-digit scores.
Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal admitted his batsmen took poor shot selections, and he is confident the batting order will perform better in the second T20.
Sri Lanka's bowlers, however, did their part. They kept it a low scoring game and limited South Africa to a below-par 115/6. Sachitra Senanayake finished 3/14 from his four overs, and Angelo Mathews took a wicket and allowed only 11 runs from his four overs.
South Africa's win was certainly a boost to morale, but it was an unconvincing victory. The squad's top order continues to be a problem, and it failed against Senanayake. AB de Villiers and David Miller also couldn't get anything going, and the squad's biggest batting contribution came from JP Duminy's half-century.
The Proteas' bowling fared better. Duminy picked up 3/18 from his overs, and Wayne Parnell gave up just eight runs from his three overs.
Sunday's match could be even closer. India will likely rest its experienced players and give its youngsters more playing time, according to Chandimal.
