One remembers a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s when India versus Sri Lanka matches used to be exciting and both teams had quality players. That is not the case anymore. There is a big gulf of quality between India and Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka are simply not in the same league as India. They have lost most of their best players and now have a team of underperforming youngsters, who are talented, but are yet to prove themselves at the international stage.
India come into this match after a convincing display against Pakistan. They won that match by a plenty of runs and looked completely dominant. Sri Lanka on the other hand were demolished by South Africa.
[table id=1 /]
So what to expect from this match? In cricket, anything is possible. Indeed, last night’s match between Pakistan and South Africa was a shocker – it was won by Pakistan quite unexpectedly and South Africa looked a shadow of their former selves. That result has opened up this group completely.
Even if Sri Lanka were to lose this game, as long as they don’t lose too badly and manage to win their match against Pakistan handsomely, they can still make it to the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy. That should encourage them to give this match all they got.
India have a powerful batting lineup with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh in fine form. They have amazing batting depth with MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to follow.
Let’s talk about the bowling – India have four high quality seam bowlers – Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaspreet Bumrah and Mohammad Shami, backed by the all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravi Jadeja.
Indeed, this is the most balanced Indian side we have ever seen. It is very difficult for this team to get beaten in this tournament, unless they have a really bad day at the office.
Sri Lanka will struggle in today’s match and well depend heavily on their two veterans, Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga to put up a fight. They will be without Chamara Kapugedara, who injured his knee at training and will bring in Danushka Gunathilaka, in his place. They will want some of their younger players such as Dinesh Chandimal to put up a fight as well.
The Teams
Sri Lanka : 1 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 2 Danushka Gunathilaka 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Kusal Perera, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal,10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Nuwan Pradeep
India : 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Kedar Jadhav, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Match conditions
It’s the day of the General Election in the UK, so all the focus will be on politics today. Nobody will be talking about cricket. Still the game must go on. The pitch at Oval has always been batting friendly. Rain can only be expected this time of the year in England.
Watch India play Sri Lanka today at 3 pm live on Star Sports!
[table id=16 responsive=”tablet” /]
