India, who have won six matches in a row, will bat first after losing the toss against Sri Lanka in their seventh match today. India will be the first team to secure the semi-finals if they beat Sri Lanka today. On the other hand, Sri Lanka wants to stop India’s victory in addition to keeping the hopes of the semi alive.
The match will start at 2:30 PM at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
This year’s World Cup is one to remember for India. Six straight wins. Rohit Sharma is in great form. His runs in 6 matches in the World Cup are 398. Kohli’s run is 354 in a tie match. Lokesh Rahul is also in tune. Mohammad Shami single-handedly led the team in the last two matches with the ball against New Zealand and England. He took 9 wickets in two matches. He is almost certain to play against Sri Lanka. If he gets just four wickets, he will touch Zaheer Khan and Javagar Srinath’s record of 44 wickets in the World Cup. There is no possibility of any change in the Indian XI.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is at the seventh place in the table with 4 points from 6 matches. Lankans have to win against India to stay well in the race for the semis. And if they lose, their path to the semis will be very faded.
Sri Lanka-India have met 9 times before in the World Cup. Both teams have four wins each. A match is abandoned. The two teams last met in the 2019 World Cup. Team India won that match by 6 wickets. In all, the two teams have played 167 ODI matches. India is ahead with 98 wins out of this.
There is one change in the Sri Lankan team. Dushan Hemantha got a place in the team in place of Dhananjaya de Silva. Meanwhile, India entered the field with an unchanged XI.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj.
Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nisanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kushal Mendis (captain), Sadira Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dushan Hemanta, Mahish Thikshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka.
(02 November/NBW)