Sri Lanka vs. West Indies, 1st T20: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

The West Indies and Sri Lanka begin their two-match T20 series on Monday. It’s been a pretty dire tour for the visitors thus far and this is their last chance for some consolation.

Date: Monday, November 9, 2015

Time: 7 p.m. local (1:30 p.m. GMT)

Venue: Pallekele International Cricket Stadium

Live Stream and TV Info: Rupavahini Corporation (Sri Lanka), Ten Sports (India), Willow TV (subscription required)

Weather:  Not good news, according to Weather2. Thunderstorms are likely to disrupt play and we could be in for a delay or a complete washout if the shower does not pass quickly.

Overview

Out of all three formats of the game, T20 is probably the Windies' strongest suit. They have a number of Indian Premier League stars in their lineup. They have also beaten South Africa and New Zealand in T20s recently, but they are now up against a Sri Lankan side with all the momentum, and the home-ground advantage.

Pallekele has also been good to Sri Lanka, they have not lost a T20 here since September 2012, when England beat them by six wickets. The surface is fairly friendly to batsmen, but it has not seen T20 action since 2013. A par score is in the 150 to 180 range, with the last fixture played here being on the lower side of 140.

For both sides spin will be an important factor, as has become the norm in the shortest format of the game. It helps build pressure through bogging down the run rate and forcing even the most experienced batsmen into mistakes.

The unpredictable nature of T20 means that it is near to impossible to pick a favourite, but with the momentum behind them and as World T20 champions, Sri Lanka probably have the better chance.

Key players

Sri Lanka

Although spin is always a key factor in T20s, it is Lasith Malinga who will be central to the Sri Lankan bowling attack. As one of the top-10 ranked T20 bowlers in the world and with a deadly yorker in his arsenal, Malinga is key to stemming the flow of runs up front.

West Indies

Kieron Pollard returns to the West Indies side to boost the batting. He has a contract with the Cobras, a South African domestic team, to play in the T20 competition and in his one outing so far he has scored an unbeaten 29 and taken two for 27. As a vastly experienced campaigner who contributes with both bat and ball, Pollard will play an important role for the West Indies.

Squads:

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera (wk), Shehan Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Chamara Kapugedera, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeffrey Vandersay, Binura Fernando, Thisara Perera

West Indies: Darren Sammy (c), Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Dinesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor.