International Cricket: South Africa vs. Sri Lanka 9/14/21 T20 Cricket Prediction

South Africa will face Sri Lanka in the third T20 International between the two sides on Tuesday September 14th, 2021. The match is scheduled to take place at 9:30am EST.

Sri Lanka is playing for pride here after losing the first two matches and going down an unassailable 2-0 in the three match series. South Africa will be keen to keep their feet on the gas and complete the series sweep as they gear up for the T20 World Cup next month. Sri Lanka will also be hoping to turn their fortunes around and build some momentum before the world cup as well, so this is set to be a thrilling contest despite the series being decided. The Proteas enter as the obvious favorites, can Sri Lanka cause the upset and bring some respectability to the series score?

South Africa has been in fantastic form throughout this series and have already wrapped it up with a game to spare. They bowled the hosts out for a paltry 103 in the 2nd T20, winning the match by a massive 9 wickets. Tabraiz Shamsi and Markram led the charge with three wickets each to set the batsmen up with an easy target which they achieved in only 14 overs. Quinton de Kock led from the front with a stroke filled 58 not out while Aiden Markram scored an unbeaten 21 not out to complete a very impressive all-around performance. While they have a very good squad overall they will again be looking for de Kock to lead them to victory here again and if he is firing on all cylinders again South Africa will be extremely difficult to defeat here. In the bowling department they will be looking for leading bowler Shamsi to be the main strike bowler as usual, ably supported by a fantastic cast including Markram and Anrich Nortje.

Sri Lanka will be desperately hoping to improve on their recent performances before heading into the World Cup, as they are in serious danger of finishing near the bottom of the table. While they have some outstanding individual performers they have not functioned well as a team in a while, something that needs to be reversed as soon as possible. Their strength has always been their bowling but the batting has been especially disappointing in recent times and has let them down big time in this series. They will be looking to star batsman Kusal Perera to lead from the front here, and he will be crucial if they are to cause the upset here. Dinesh Chandimal will be looking to build on his encouraging performances this series and Sri Lanka will need both him and Perera to be firing to make a substantial total for the first time this series.

This match is looking more and more like it will be yet another dominant win for the South Africans. They are simply a level above the Sri Lankans at the moment, and while not many will be giving them much chance of winning the world cup, they at least cannot be underestimated after these performances. Their bowling unit has been simply outstanding, and I don’t see Sri Lanka having enough quality in depth to post a challenging total. I expect it to be a bit closer this time around, but South Africa will win yet again here, completing a 3-0 series sweep, heading into the T20 World Cup in fantastic form.