India start favourite in 2011 final rematch

The last time India and Sri Lanka met at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was on April 2, 2011. It was the World Cup final. With just four runs needed off 11 balls, a thunderous wallop from MS Dhoni off Nuwan Kulasekara flew over long-on into the crowd as India recorded the highest run-chase in World Cup history and beat Sri Lanka by six wickets, lifting the trophy.

The two seats where the six landed are preserved with a special stand depicting two replicas of the trophy against the backdrop of a photograph of the jubilant Indian team with the cup.

It was heartbreak for the Sri Lankans who had put themselves in a strong position with an excellent century from Mahela Jayawardena. A meticulous chase however saw India send billions across the country into a state of frenzied joy by winning after 28 long years. 

The two teams will meet again at the Wankhede 4,537 days later, with India firmly in place for a semi-final spot in the 2023 edition of the Men’s Cricket World Cup and Sri Lanka just praying to survive the match.

Despite winning only two games out of six, Sri Lanka are hanging on by a thread in the tournament. A defeat here will decide their fate, although they still have Bangladesh and New Zealand to play.

However, two back-to-back wins against Netherlands and England, the ICC World Cup defending champions, gave Sri Lankans a sense of belief that they were back on track. It was short-lived. They crashed to a humiliating seven-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in Pune, further diminishing their chances.

Add to this Sri Lanka’s horrendous record against India in ODIs. They have lost all of their last five ODI encounters against India, including a 10-wicket thrashing at the Asia Cup final in Colombo.

What was expected to be an exciting finale, turned out to be an anticlimax as Mohammed Siraj (6-21) singlehandedly demolished Sri Lanka in the blink of an eye to bowl them out for 50 runs; their second lowest ODI score.

India, so far, has an unblemished record in the tournament. They won all six matches including a convincing win over defending champions England in their sixth game of the tournament. They sit at the top of the points table and a win here will confirm their place in the semis.

Sri Lanka’s roller-coaster ride is primarily due to inconsistency across all departments. They have performed well in patches but a lack of dependable performances has put their campaign in jeopardy.

The top-order, Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama, in particular, have been in excellent form. But Sri Lanka’s nagging problems with its middle order have continued to hurt them badly.

Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva have been pale shadows of themselves, contributing to Sri Lanka’s lacklustre campaign. In fact, Sri Lanka might bench de Silva and replace him with either left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage or wrist spinner Dushan Hemantha for today’s game.

Wellalage enjoyed rare success against India on a turning pitch in Colombo, claiming his best bowling figures of 5-40 in an Asia Cup Super-Fours match. If picked, whether he can enjoy similar success on the batting paradise of Wankhede remains to be seen.

Samarawickrema has had two stitches on his right index finger after hurting it again while attempting a catch during the Afghanistan game. He sustained a cut during the England game while batting but team sources confirmed he will play today.

With Dushmantha Chameera reporting a tight muscle during the Afghan game, Sri Lanka brought in Pramod Madushan as the travelling reserve. The good news is that Chameera is now fit enough to play. He was seen at the nets, first with the bat, before sweating it out bowling for a while.

The hosts have been particularly impressive when bowling first as their star-studded batting unit has chased down targets with ease. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Kuldip Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have formed a lethal bowling attack and have taken 56 out of a possible 60 wickets in the six games.

India have not really been tested so far in the tournament and have been clinical batting second as they won five of their games chasing. Virat Kohli, the chase-master, and skipper Sharma have been in their best form but the concern still is the fitness of Hardik Pandya, the allrounder. His replacement, Mohammed Shami, has been excellent with nine wickets in two games, but India will love to have Pandya in the side, given his all-round ability.

Sri Lanka possible XI: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (c & wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva/Dunith Wellalage/Dushan Hemantha, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera.

India World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav