Dynamite News Champions Trophy: India eye semi-final spot by defeating Lanka
India will look to book a place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Champions Trophy when they take on Sri Lanka in their crucial second Group B .
London: Defending champions India will look to book a place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Champions Trophy when they take on Sri Lanka in their crucial second Group B encounter at the Kennington Oval here on Thursday.
The Virat Kohli-led side had a dream start to their eight-team marquee event, when they thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs in a rain-hit opening clash at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Lanka, on the other hand, slumped to a 96-run defeat at the hands of top-ranked ODI team South Africa in their first group encounter at the Oval.
While a win here would ensure India a semi-final spot, the Angelo Mathews-led side finds itself in a do-or-die situation. They need to clinch victory to keep their hopes in the tournament alive.
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Kohli on Wednesday had asserted that the team is currently playing good cricket, but needs to respect every opposition and not play with arrogance.
"At the moment, we are playing good cricket, but, that doesn't mean we play with arrogance as a team.We respect every opposition the same way, and, we intend to play the same kind of cricket against everyone," Kohli said ahead of the match.
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Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara had said Sri Lanka should play with arrogance against India on Thursday.
"I would personally like this young Sri Lanka side to walk out at The Oval and play with the arrogance and abandon of youth," Sangakkara wrote in his column for the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Sri Lanka will be without senior opener Upul Tharanga who has been handed a two-match suspension by the ICC for a slow over rate during opening match.
Meanwhile, batsman Chamara Kapugedera has been ruled out of the tournament due to knee injury. Opening batsman Danushka Gunathilaka has been named in the squad as his replacement.
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Here are some facts about two sides:
· India have won 14 of their last 17 ODI matches against Sri Lanka ; winning the last five such meetings.
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· These sides have met three times before in the Champions Trophy but two of them ended as no results; India winning the most recent such encounter in 2013 (eight wickets).
· India have won 10 of their last 13 ODI matches; claiming victory in four of their last five.
· Sri Lanka are without a win in their last five ODIs played in Europe ,last grabbing a win on the continent in June 2016 against Ireland.
· Sri Lanka have won 13 matches in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy, the equal second most of any team in the competition's history second only to India.
· This will be the 150th ODI fixture between India and Sri Lanka, the first two teams to have played each other so many times in the 50-over format.
· Sri Lanka have managed only one win from nine games so far in 2017; the last time they finished a calendar year with fewer than six ODI wins was in 1991 when they were defeated in all four of their fixtures.
· India have won each of their last seven ICC Champions Trophy fixtures, only once in the history of the tournament has any team won more games in succession.
. Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah will be the only two players in this fixture to have maintained a record of 100% legal deliveries so far this tournament.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickewalla, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Sekkuge Prasanna, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan, Lasith Malinga, Asela Gunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara.(ANI)