New Zealand, who may again wear the mantle of everyone's second-favourite team, have the components of a strong one-day side with explosive openers in Martin Guptill and Colin Munro and solid accumulators in Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls.
They gain balance from a strong contingent of all-rounders and Trent Boult is among the best seamers in the world. Teamwork is guaranteed and, as with most New Zealand teams, this team's strength is greater than the sum of its parts.
Boult and Tim Southee are not quite the combination they were four years ago but Matt Henry brings experience in English conditions and Lockie Ferguson provides express pace. The area of concern may be the spinners, as Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner aren't big wicket-takers in ODIs.
Sri Lanka have some World Cup pedigree and a tradition of pushing the limits, having won the title in 1996 and reached two other finals, including when the tournament was last held in Asia in 2011.
They need experienced players such as allrounder Angelo Mathews and fast bowler Lasith Malinga — who took four wickets with four consecutive deliveries at the 2007 World Cup — to fire or will have very little chance of beating any of the serious title contenders.
Off-field issues have led to Sri Lanka cycling through 10 captains across the various formats before settling on Karunaratne to lead the team to the World Cup.
A major distraction has been the suspensions of several players and board officials, including World Cup winner Sanath Jayasuriya, for not co-operating with International Cricket Council's anti-corruption investigators.
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