South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and chose to send Sri Lanka to bat first in their World Cup encounter at the Riverside Durham on Friday.
For Sri Lanka, this is a do-or-die match and will hope to keep their hopes to secure a semifinal berth alive with a significant win. Their 20-run win over England ensured that the semifinal spots are still wide open. Sri Lanka's bowling attack has been monumental in their revival in this World Cup. Defending a modest target of 233, Lankan pacers managed to bundle out favourites England for 212.
However, Sri Lanka, currently placed seventh in the points table, would look to be among the runs as well, if they have any intention of moving ahead in the tournament.
The Proteas, on the other hand, are out of the World Cup and have nothing to lose. Their only hope would be to exit the tournament with a consolation win. Du Plessis has said that the team is mediocre at the moment because of committing the same mistakes and not learning from them.
South Africa are currently placed ninth in the table with three points.
Teams:
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pertorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamshi, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Chris Morris, Rassie van der Dussen, Beuran Hendricks.
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Dhananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay.
