Zimbabwe’s busy summer continues as they welcome Sri Lanka for a white ball series. With the T20 World Cup Africa Regional Qualifiers on the horizon, the Chevrons will be looking to make the most out of these matches. Check out our SL vs ZIM cricket betting tips and analysis before the series begins.
The tour begins with a two-match ODI series before the teams play three T20Is. Have a quick look at the venue and dates before we discuss our 2025 ODI Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka predictions.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | 2025 Sri Lanka Tour of Zimbabwe (Two ODIs and Three T20Is) |
| 🏏 Venue: | Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Friday, August 29 to Sunday, September 7, 2025 |
As expected, Zimbabwe will be the underdogs going into this series. Here are the Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka odds for the first ODI across the best cricket bookmakers:
Zimbabwe have been unable to beat Sri Lanka in an ODI since their incredible 22-run win at Pallekele in 2022. Since then, the two teams have played four ODIs and Sri Lanka have won three of them, with the other one washed out by rain.
For a better understanding of SL vs ZIM cricket betting tips, we must look at the past history between these two sides and analyze how Sri Lanka has fared on Zimbabwean soil before. Sri Lanka first visited the Southeast African country one and a half years before their historic World Cup win.
Sri Lanka was dominant in the 1994 series, but Zimbabwe managed to win the second ODI by two runs to avoid a whitewash. The series ended 2-1 in Sri Lanka’s favor.
The 1996 World Champions returned to Zimbabwe in 1999 for a five-match ODI series, and this time they won 3-1. Five years later, Sri Lanka whitewashed Zimbabwe 5-0 in matches played across Bulawayo and Harare.
Sri Lanka whitewashed the hosts in 2008 again and won the Zimbabwe Triangular Series in 2010, featuring Zimbabwe and India. They won the 2016 edition of the tournament as well, which had the West Indies as the third team.
Since the guests have been so dominant in Zimbabwe, Sri Lankan betting sites are showing great faith in their team for the upcoming series. We are sure the SL vs ZIM cricket T20I betting predictions most will also look the same when the odds for those games come out too.
Craig Ervine and company saw off Ireland 2-1 in a three-match ODI series back in February. Before the home series victory against Ireland, Zimbabwe lost 2-0 to Afghanistan in Harare. They also played Pakistan in a three-match ODI series last year, and lost 2-1.
Sri Lanka has been more active in ODI cricket this year. They started the year with a 2-1 loss to New Zealand, but bounced back with wins against Australia and Bangladesh. As a result, the best platforms for betting in Zimbabwe consider Sri Lanka the undisputed favorites.
We have taken our time to explore the best cricket sportsbooks before finalizing our 2025 cricket SL vs ZIM betting picks. Here they are:
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Brendan Taylor returned to international cricket earlier this month after serving a three-and-a-half-year ban for breaching ICC’s anti-doping and anti-corruption regulations. He opened alongside Brian Bennett in Zimbabwe’s second Test against New Zealand in Bulawayo.
The veteran’s 44 was Zimbabwe’s top score in the first innings, with the team bowled out for only 125 runs. Taylor’s experience should come in handy against a team of Sri Lanka’s quality, and he has shown against New Zealand that he can still bat against top opposition.
He has played more than 200 ODIs in his career and scored more than 6500 runs. An average of 35.55 and a strike rate of 76.64 are exceptional numbers for a team fighting to reclaim its glory days.Taylor has competed 14 times against Sri Lanka and has a century against them. So, the 39-year-old is a strong, reliable option to bet on Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka 2025 cricket match.
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Maheesh Theekshana has the most favorable Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka odds in this market, and we believe there’s good reasoning behind this.
The Harare Sports Club pitch has traditionally been a slow one. Pacers should be able to get some movement early on, but in later overs, the pitch cracks and becomes more suitable for spinners.
Theekshana has taken 12 wickets in seven ODIs this year at an impressive strike rate of 25.2. The right-arm off-spinner should thrive in Harare conditions and could cause plenty of problems for the Zimbabwean batting line-up.
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We’re backing Richard Ngarava as our pick for the most successful Zimbabwe bowler. Ngarava has taken 18 wickets in his last 12 ODI appearances for Zimbabwe and has an excellent record against Sri Lanka.
The left-arm pacer has 15 wickets in seven ODIs against Sri Lanka, and his career best haul of 5/32 also came against the Lions in Colombo. Ngarava will be confident of doing more damage to the Sri Lankan batting lineup in familiar conditions.
For our final SL vs ZIM cricket betting tips, we suggest backing Taylor to outscore the rest of his peers and Ngarava to shine against Sri Lanka once again.
