India to test combinations, flourish; Lanka to play for final splurge
India play Sri Lanka in a match of no significance other than some real time practice, testing new combinations and a victory which may give them a desired placement in the semi-final if, that is, South Africa defeats Australia in their upcoming clash.
India, currently ranked No 2 on the semi-final list, would prefer to go on the top the table and play New Zealand in Manchester rather than face England in Edgbaston, a venue where they lost to the hosts in a difficult chase and a slowed down wicket.
New Zealand is one team they have not played till now, having missed out to rain which had washed away their clash with the Kiwis at Nottingham without a single ball being bowled. Since then, they have been on a downward spiral.
For now, at Leeds, it is the Sri Lankans they face, just before the islanders catch the flight back home after a below average show which included two rained out matches. Their singular high was the victory against the hosts who collapsed to their bowlers just the other day, losing by 20 runs at the same venue.
Lankan woes off and on the field have been a subject of discussion around the cricket, what with the team management complaining to the ICC about not being treated properly where amenities were concerned. On the field, they had a horrible start to the tournament, being bundled out by the Kiwis for just 135 runs. Their batting order has been under scrutiny and their over reliance on Lasith Malinga gives them a unidimensional defence mechanism.
Add to that Malinga's IPL captain and friend, Rohit Sharma's sublime run in the tournament so far, as the top run scorer with four centuries in the bag, the Lankan bowlers would be looking at straightening up their act a bit if they want to relive their 2017 Champions Trophy moment at the Oval against India where their batters had chased down 321 with seven wickets and eight balls to spare.
India, who have been battling middle over problems on sticky wickets, loss to injuries, the chirp around a long tail and MS Dhoni's inability to perform with flourish late into the order, would be looking to try out newer combinations to give new entrant Mayank Agarwal his ODI and World Cup debut after Vijay Shankar's injured toe outage. Whether Ravindra Jadeja, the only player to not have played in this tournament from the squad of 15, will get a look-in will depend on Kohli considering the left right combinations, fate of Dinesh Karthik and the possibility of bringing back Kedar Jadhav into the playing 11 with an eye on the all-important semi-final clash.
Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne who said his team had plans for getting the prized scalp of Sharma spoke more on the building of a team of 15 for the next World Cup in India. He has not been among the runs in this edition, much like the others in his team's top order, and will be tested in the last one against the X factor of Jasprit Bumrah whom many of the Lankans like him are yet to face.
On the other hand, skipper Kohli, world's No 1 batsman leading the world's No 1 team into the semi-finals, would be up for a contest and a century which has so far eluded him despite four back-to-back 50s and beyond. Angelo Mathews would be rolling his arm to somehow cut short that inevitability even as Dhoni's explosive mind under his calm demeanour would be ticking furiously to answer with his bat as he used to when he was younger and headier with no worries of age in the worn-out kit bag he prefers to carry into the sunset of his eventful career.