Though New Zealand had a big victory in the first game,  performances by few Sri Lankan cricketers were impressive too, as they did well but in patches. Especially, Dimuth Karunaratne‘s knock in the second innings which boost up the morale of the whole side. Apart from him, the skipper Angelo Mathews also had a good all-round show at Christchurch. The Sri Lankan team management and fans will now expect a collective performance from the Sri Lankan which defeated England in England, last year.

For this important game, Sri Lanka have to accommodate their premier spinner Rangana Herath in their playing eleven. Though the wicket won’t be very helpful for him, but atleast he can control the opposition scoring rate by his wicket to wicket bowling. But Herath’s fitness could be a concern for the tourists. Also against the attacking batsman like Brendon McCullum, who just wants to dominate the bowlers, the slow left-arm spin of Herath can be handy. Apart from this, in batting, Dinesh Chandimal might replace Niroshan Dickwella as a specialist batsman.

For New Zealand the things are not so complicated. They just want to continue the momentum, which they got from the Pakistan series in United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The team is looking like a settled unit under McCullum, who is leading them from the front- both as a skipper and as a batsman.