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Sri Lanka vs Ireland T20 Cricket World Cup Predictions - Kusal Mendis to hand the Irish an opening defeat

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 07 Feb 2026

Simon Lewis 07 Feb 2026

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Kusal Mendis scored 93* off 117 balls in the 1st ODI against England.
Harry Tector scored 96* off 56 balls against Italy, hitting 13 fours.
Can Sri Lanka put their whiteball defeats to England behind them by starting the World Cup with a win over a tricky Ireland side?

Expired

Kusal Mendis cuts fine against England (Getty Images).

Sri Lanka vs Ireland Predictions

Sri Lanka’s batters haven’t been in great form, although their bowlers have been delivering the goods. The Ireland side has some quality players but they are lacking in depth and consistency. This should be a fairly comfortable win for Sri Lanka, unless Ireland come out with all guns blazing.

Sri Lanka vs Ireland Predictions
Head-to-Head
Sri Lanka Form
Ireland Form
Sri Lanka vs Ireland Team News & Squads

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis has scored 20-plus in 8 of his last 9 innings.
Sri Lanka’s Pavan Rathnayake has scored 29, 121 & 40 in his last 4 innings.
Ireland’s Harry Tector has scored 41, 96* & 20 in his last 5 innings.
Ireland’s Curtis Campher has scored 24, 25 & 54* in his last 4 innings.

Head-to-Head

Sri Lanka have won their last three T20Is against Ireland.

Sri Lanka Form

Sri Lanka went down 3-0 to England in their recent series at home, although they made England fight hard for their wins.

Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka have been scoring consistently but will be hoping to post a substantial score to kick-start their World Cup campaign. Pathum Nissanka has also been putting mid-range runs on the board, scoring 50, 23, 34 and 23 in his last four knocks. Pavan Rathnayake scored 121 off 115 balls in the 3rd ODI against England. Kamindu Mendis scored 114 in a recent domestic match.

Dushmantha Chameera has taken 10 wickets in his last four T20Is, including figures of 4/20 and 5/24 against Pakistan and England. Right-arm paceman Matheesha Pathirana has taken two wickets in three of his last four T20Is.

Ireland Form

After beating Italy 2-1, Ireland beat the UAE in back-to-back matches to win their series 2-0.

Paul Stirling has scored 3,888 runs in T20Is (S/R 134.76) but has been short of runs, with his 45 against Italy being his highest score since mid-November. If he hits form he could power Ireland into the Super 8s. Keeper/batter Lorcan Tucker has scored 41, 34, 27 and 38 in his last 10 innings.

Barry McCarthy has been in great form with the ball, returning figures of 2/14, 2/43, 2/26 and 2/33 in his last five T20Is. Gareth Delany was superb in the recent short series against the UAE, taking 3/26 and 2/24.

Sri Lanka vs Ireland Team News & Squads

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was disappointed following his side’s 3-0 series defeat to England: "I think we could have taken it deeper. We could have done that better, but there were a lot of positives, such as Chameera and Theekshana bowling well. We are looking forward to the World Cup and desperately want to deliver something special, and our bowling attack looks good," said Shanaka.

Ireland skipper Paul Stirling is determined to guide his side through to the Super 8s. "The Sri Lanka game is first up, and hopefully there's a little bit more pressure on the home side with 35,000 of their own fans cheering for them. I think we've got match winners on our side, and our best players have got to stand up when it matters. I suppose that's what's going to count come those first couple of games, but we are not looking too far further ahead than the Sri Lanka game. We just have to look inside our own dressing room and make sure that we're best prepared and give it our all out there," said Stirling.

Sri Lanka squad: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, Eshan Malinga.

Ireland squad: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

Verdict

Sri Lanka v Ireland

I am backing Sri Lanka to win. I am also backing Kusal Mendis to top score for Sri Lanka.

Harry Tector is a good bet to top score for Ireland.

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.