Unbeaten in six straight games and largely unchallenged for longer spans, India have displayed traits of being a champion side at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. They have proven to be a team with the knack of staging remarkable fightbacks. Sri Lanka, despite the familiar subcontinental conditions, have lost more than what they have won.
South Africa's victory over New Zealand means India have lost the point table pole position -- briefly at least. A victory over the neighbours is thus essential for the Men In Blue to go back up on top as the African side boasts a ridiculously high Net Run Rate (NRR).
India vs Sri Lanka ODI World Cup match Pitch Report: 241 is the average first innings score at 31 ODIs at the Wankhede, CNBCTV18 said in a report. With the due factor in play, the toss-winning captain may opt to bowl first and prefer to chase under the lights.
The pitch is rather balanced, but the bowlers will get good bounce. Thus, back-of-a-length deliveries are expected to be the go-to option for seamers. 83% of dismissals at this venue belonged to the seamers, a report claimed.
India vs Sri Lanka ODI World Cup match Weather Forecast: Players taking the field on Thursday should be prepared to battle Mumbai humidity -- which is said to be between 47- 54%.
The temperature is expected to be around 29.3 Degrees Celsius.
All eyes on Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer: Both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer came into the World Cup with consistent performances in the one-day format, but are yet to make a strong dent on the tournament.
Gill missed two games at the start and has only one fifty to show since he returned. He has been guilty of getting out to what is termed soft dismissals' and the young batter would know the stage is set for him to get cracking once again.
At 1,334 runs (24 matches, 5x100s, 6x50s, avg 63.52), Gill is still a considerable distance (560 runs) behind the legendary Sachin Tendulkar in terms of getting most ODI runs in a year.
With his frailties against the short ball becoming the Weapon X against him, Iyer will be desperate to regain his touch. The right-hander has only one fifty to show from six outings so far.
Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 53 came in the chase against Pakistan when the opposition was down and out but the right-handed batter has also fallen on occasions where there were opportunities to bat big and finish games.
There will be extra motivation to put that all behind when Iyer walks out at the Wankhede Stadium, playing a World Cup game on his home ground.
Sri Lanka Playing XI (probable): Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (C & WK), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Kasun Rajitha, D Chameera
India Playing XI (probable): Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
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