Into the final third of the 2023 Cricket World Cup we go, and in match 33 of the competition, we will see the tournament favourites India look to keep their unbeaten record intact when they take on Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday morning.
The host nation come into this match off the back of an excellent 100-run win over the defending champions England, while the Lions suffered a costly seven-wicket defeat against Afghanistan.
Match preview
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As we head into the final stretch of group-stage matches and with the table starting to take shape, India have been the team to beat in this competition so far and are now just one win away from guaranteeing their place in the final four.
The Men in Blue are also the only side in the competition that are still unbeaten after six matches, and they made their intentions clear early in the tournament when they beat the five-time champions Australia in their opening match by six wickets.
Dominant performances against Afghanistan, Bangladesh and their old foes Pakistan followed that before arguably their trickiest match of the competition so far against New Zealand, but a Virat Kohli masterclass saw them over the line with a couple of overs to spare.
In their last match, Rohit Sharma's side looked for a while like they could taste their first defeat against England, but the defending world champions crumbled with the bat once again and came up 100 runs short of a very gettable 229-run target.
Mohammed Shami was the standout performer for the hosts in that match, claiming 4/22, which saw him creep into the top 15 wicket-takers standings in the tournament, while the ever-consistent Jasprit Bumrah grabbed 3/32 and moved up to third.
Sharma and Kohli have been the main contributors in the runs column with 398 and 354, respectively, and the latter is now just one century away from levelling the great Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 tons in ODI matches.
Against the Black Caps, Kohli was dismissed for 95, which would have seen him level the record, but the ex-captain will have another chance to achieve the milestone in this match and possibly surpass it before the end of the tournament.
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Meanwhile, despite losing the first two matches of the competition, Sri Lanka were good against South Africa and Pakistan, with both those sides producing record-breaking performances in claiming their wins.
The Proteas set The Lions a target of 429, which is now the highest total in a Cricket World Cup, while Pakistan set the record for the highest run chase in CWC history in week two when they successfully got to a 345-run target with an over and a bit to spare.
Sri Lanka finally got off the mark in their fourth match against the Netherlands and seemed to have found top gear a few days later when they downed England by a whopping eight wickets, but their momentum was brought to an abrupt halt by Afghanistan, who claimed an unexpected seven-wicket victory over them earlier this week.
With three games left to play in the group stage and needing to leapfrog three sides to reach the top four, it seems unlikely that the Sri Lankans will be featuring in the knockout stages of this competition, barring a miracle.
Still, the likes of Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dilshan Madushanka are having excellent campaigns here in India and would love nothing more than to be the ones to hand the world number one side their first defeat in the competition.
Team News
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This week's match will arrive too soon for all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is still recovering from a ligament injury, which should mean that Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will continue in the middle order.
Needing just one more win to secure their place in the final four, India are likely to maintain confidence in the same lineup that convincingly defeated England over the weekend.
Madushanka has been the star bowler for the Lions and is currently ranked inside the top five wicket-takers in the competition with 13 in six matches, at a very respectable average of 24.46 and a best of 4/49.
Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes despite a struggling middle order, as their weakness in that area prevents them from bringing in an additional bowler to counter India's formidable batting lineup.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav
Team B squad: Kusal Mendis (c), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Kumara, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Angelo Mathews, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushan Hemantha, Chamika Karunaratne
Series so far
India
Match One: India won by 6 wickets
Australia - 199 (49.3)
India - 201/4 (41.2)
Match Two: India won by 8 wickets
Afghanistan - 272/8 (50)
India - 273/2 (35)
Match Three: India won by 7 wickets
Pakistan - 191 (42.5)
India - 192/3 (30.3)
Match Four: India won by 7 wickets
Bangladesh - 256/8 (50)
India - 261/3 (41.3)
Match Five: India won by 4 wickets
New Zealand - 273 (50)
India - 274/6 (48)
Match Six: India won by 100 runs
India - 229/9 (50)
England - 129 (34.5)
Sri Lanka
Match One - Sri Lanka lost by 102 runs
South Africa - 428/5 (50)
Sri Lanka - 326 (44.5)
Match Two: Sri Lanka lost by 6 wickets
Sri Lanka - 344/9 (50)
Pakistan - 345/4 (48.2)
Match Three: Sri Lanka lost by 5 wickets
Sri Lanka - 209 (43.3)
Australia - 215/5 (35.2)
Match Four: Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets
Netherlands - 262 (49.4)
Sri Lanka - 263/5 (48.2)
Match Five: Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets
England - 156 (33.2)
Sri Lanka - 160/2 (25.4)
Match Six: Sri Lanka lost by 7 wickets
Sri Lanka - 241 (49.3)
Afghanistan - 242/3 (45.2)
We say: India to win
With the performances they have already delivered in this competition, it is difficult to back against the host nation. It looks as though it is going to take a special performance to derail them on their home patch, and we do not think that the Sri Lankans have one in them right at this moment.
Devesh Jaganath
