The State of Play
India have been the standout team at the World Cup, justifying their status as pre-tournament favourites. Remarkably, despite winning all six of their group games, Rohit Sharma’s men are still not guaranteed a semi-final spot. However, it would take a remarkable set of events to deny them. India would have to lose all three of their remaining games, and Afghanistan win all three of theirs. It would then go down to net run-rate.
Sharma and Co can remove any lingering doubt by seeing off Sri Lanka in Mumbai in front of another bumper crowd who will be willing Virat Kohli to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 49 ODI centuries.
With just two victories from six games, Sri Lanka must win their remaining three matches and hope for favours elsewhere to qualify. It’s an extreme improbability and their main focus will be on winning on Thursday and denting India’s proud run.
Team News
The Sri Lanka game is expected to come too soon for all-rounder Hardik Pandya, so India will most likely keep faith with the side that thrashed England on Sunday. The bowling attack impressed in that game with Mohammed Shami justifying his inclusion with a four-wicket burst as India defended a total of 229.
Sri Lanka are also unlikely to make too many changes despite a middle order that has failed to fire. That weakness means they cannot bring in an extra bowler to try to combat India’s powerful line-up.
Expected line-ups
India: Sharma (c), Gill, Kohli, Iyer, Rahul (wk), S Yadav, Jadeja, Smahi, Bumrah, K Yadav, Siraj
Sri Lanka: Nissanka, Karunaratne, Mendis (c, wk), Samarawickrama, Asalanka, De Silva, Mathews, Chameera, Theekshana, Rajitha, Madushanka
What they said
Virat Kohli on the prospect of equalling Tendulkar’s record.
“If we talk about cricket, I had never thought of achieving all this, where my career is and how God has blessed me with such a career span and performances. I had always dreamt I would do this, but I had never thought things would pan out this way exactly. Nobody can plan these things, the way your journey is going, and the way things unfold in front of you. I hadn’t thought I would score so many hundreds and so many runs over the years.”
Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana on his side’s batting woes and why they are unlikely to make changes.
“We failed a lot in our middle order, so we cannot reduce it from the batting side. We cannot add spinners because the wicket is good.
“We only have Wellalage and Dushmantha. Although they have good experience, if the wicket is good, then it will negatively affect their confidence. In this kind of tournament, we can’t just bring and add a player. As a team we cannot give a big responsibility to one such player because the wicket is good.”
Prediction
It’s impossible to bet against the India juggernaut rolling on. They will possess too much for Sri Lanka.
Check out our other sports stories here:
https://www.businesslancashire.co.uk/category/sport/
