WI vs SL: 1st ODI, Numbers game – Sri Lanka look to extend their streak

West Indies have recently won the 3-match T20I series against the Sri Lankan team. Both teams will now clash in the 3-match ODI series starting 10th March to be played in Antigua. Sri Lanka will be led by Dimuth Karunaratne in the 50-over series, while Kieron Pollard will continue to captain the West Indies side in ODIs as well.

West Indies are coming into this game with good momentum from the T20I series, but the Sri Lankan team has all the ingredients to defeat the hosts. The players of the visiting team have less experience in the Caribbean island but they would love to maximize their potential to cruise over the West Indies.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers ahead of the first ODI between West Indies and Sri Lanka:

Head to Head record: In the 60 matches played between both teams, 29 have been won by Sri Lanka while in the 28 games, West Indies have registered a victory.

5 – Sri Lanka are coming into this game with 5 consecutive ODI wins against the hosts. The last time West Indies won an ODI against Sri Lanka was back in 2016.

24 – Sri Lanka have played a total of 24 games in the West Indies so far. They have won 13 of these and lost in the 10 with one being a washout.

170 – Angelo Mathews has scored 5830 runs in his ODI career so far at an average of 41.94. He needs 170 more runs to become the ninth Sri Lankan to reach the 6000 run milestone in ODIs.

68 – With 932 runs to his name in 23 innings, Nicholas Pooran requires 68 more runs to complete 1000 ODI runs. If he crosses the 1000-run mark in the first ODI against Sri Lanka i.e. in 24 innings, he will be the third-quickest among West Indies players after Viv Richards (21 innings) and Gorden Greenidge (23 innings).

98 – West Indies opener Darren Bravo has accumulated 2902 runs in the 50-over format with an average of 30.54. He needs 98 more runs to become the 12th player from the Caribbean nation to complete 3000 ODI runs. Among the current players, he will be the third cricketer to achieve the feat.

9 – Given the T20 World Cup to be held later this year in India, this will be just the ninth ODI game of the year 2021. Sri Lanka has not played any ODI till now in 2021, while West Indies had to face a 0-3 loss against Bangladesh in January.

13 – West Indies have a terrible record in the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua. They have played 13 matches here, but have been successful in winning only 3 of them. They would want to improve their numbers at the stadium.