3 player battles to watch out for in India vs Sri Lanka match of 2023 World Cup ft. Rohit Sharma vs Dushmantha Chameera
Team India will play their first ODI World Cup game at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai since their triumph in 2011. Coincidentally, it will again be against Sri Lanka on Thursday, November 2.
The Men in Blue have been on a roll so far, with six wins from as many games, and will aim to overtake South Africa once again at the top of the table. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are coming into the contest on the back of a disappointing loss against Afghanistan. They will arguably need to win on Thursday to stay in the semifinal race.
The two teams last played an ODI during the Asia Cup in September this year, where India blew Sri Lanka away in the final. However, there are some quality players on both sides, and the hosts will need to play really well to evade the Sri Lankan challenge.
On that note, let's take a look at the three most interesting player battles to watch out for in the game:
#3 Shreyas Iyer vs Kasun Rajitha
Arguably the only batter in the Indian line-up who could be under a bit of pressure is Shreyas Iyer. He did score a half-century against Pakistan, but a lack of consistency is something Iyer would want to address with the business end of the tournament fast approaching.
Sri Lanka unfortunately have several injuries in their ranks, and they will need their bowling attack to step up. Thankfully for them, pacer Kasun Rajitha had a good record against Iyer in ODIs.
He has conceded just six runs in the 10 balls he has bowled to the right-hander and has also gotten him dismissed once. Rajitha will look to test Iyer with the short ball that has come out as the latter's glaring weakness.
#2 Kusal Mendis vs Mohammed Siraj
Kusal Mendis came into the 2023 World Cup in red-hit form but has somewhat failed to convert his starts into big scores in the past few games. He will want to lead from the front as the captain against India, but he doesn't have a great record against Mohammed Siraj.
The pacer has bowled 28 deliveries to Mendis in ODIs, conceding just nine runs, and has dismissed him as many as three times.
While the odds are stacked in Siraj's favor, Mendis will know that the pacer hasn't quite hit the ground running in the tournament. It will be interesting to see who gets the better of the other this time.
#1 Rohit Sharma vs Dushmantha Chameera
An injury to Lahiru Kumara meant that Dushmantha Chameera came into the squad. Although Sri Lanka lost their previous game against Afghanistan, Chameera looked quite sharp on pace and accuracy.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma is yet to be dismissed by Chameera in ODIs, as he has scored 48 runs off 44 balls faced from the speedster.
However, Chameera has dismissed Rohit as many as six times in T20Is and will probably have it in the back of his mind that if he gets it right, he could cause the hosts' skipper some serious problems.