Date – Thursday, 29th February 2020
Time – 3 pm (Local Time), 9:30 am (IST)
Venue – Junction Oval, Melbourne
India and Sri Lanka are placed on two extreme ends of the win-loss continuum. While the Women in Blue have won three out three games so far, the Sri Lankan lionesses have not yet managed to open their account, losing two out of two games.
At Melbourne, when the two Asian giants lock horns, India, which has already booked a berth in the semi-final will look to end the league stage as invincible, whereas Sri Lanka will look for redemption to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. The major concern that India would like to address before the semi-final is that of the middle order, that has been surviving in the shadow of the top three batters. Harmanpreet Kaur surprisingly has looked out of touch and will look to set the stage on fire against the Lankans. For Chamari Athapaththu and co., things just haven’t gone their way. Overdependence on the skipper has done them no good, and the other players in the side will have to step up to give the Indians run for their money.
Head to Head
Out of 17 matches played in T20s so far, India has won 13, Sri Lanka has won 3 and 1 match ended with no result.
In the T20I World Cup, India and Sri Lanka have met each other 4 times. India dominates with 3 wins and Sri Lanka has 1 in their kitty.
Top Fantasy Picks
India: With India having already qualified and yet to sort their middle-order issues, Richa Ghosh might get a chance in place of Veda or one of the spinners.
Possible XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy/Richa Ghosh, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Sri Lanka: Umesha Thimashini, who replaced Achini Kulasuriya in their previous game against Australia, looked promising with the bat and is likely to hold on to her place in the eleven.
Possible XI: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Umesha Thimashini, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Harshitha Madavi, Shashikala Siriwardene, Nilakshi de Silva, Ama Kanchana, Kavisha Dilhari, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani
Squads:
India Women Squad: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh, Pooja Vastrakar
Sri Lanka Women Squad: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Umesha Thimashini, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Nilakshi de Silva, Ama Kanchana, Shashikala Siriwardene, Harshitha Madavi, Kavisha Dilhari, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Dilani Manodara, Hansima Karunaratne, Achini Kulasuriya, Sathya Sandeepani
Will Sri Lanka take the lead here or India make it 4 in 4. Chamari’s Sri Lanka might have a surprise in store for us? We can’t wait for this match. Follow us on Twitter for all the updates.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
