A confident team India will take on Sri Lanka in their next league stage game, eyeing a spot on the semi-final. On the other hand, ‘underdogs’ Sri Lanka will head into the game keeping a hope of upsetting India and remain alive for the next round.
The condition in which both the teams are at present, undoubtedly, the Indian team is touted to win this game, because of many obvious reasons, They have the experience, aggression, big match players, star all-rounder – a crucial factor of win – which the Sri Lankan team lacks but still, just taking everything out of them would be the hardest thing to do and the Indian team will not make a mistake by weighing this team lighter than it looks.
Overview-
India: With a win over arch rival Pakistan in the first league stage game, team India have kicked off their campaign in the best way and the defending champions will look to go into the second game with the same tough process and style of play. Everything which Indian side experimented in that game, was up to the mark. From dropping Ashwin to sending Hardik Pandya ahead of MS Dhoni, each and every gamble paid benefits which were a big reason behind India dominating Pakistan.
The level of Indian batting is notched up to the highest of the level on any scale. But still, they have to work on their fielding, which was the biggest drawback in the previous game. If the fielders would have caught the chances and had saved crucial runs, then the match would have been ended much earlier and the margin of difference would also have been a higher one. One can expect team India to cover all the basis before the start of the game and perform well.
Sri Lanka –
Even before the start of the tournament, Sri Lanka was happy to come in as a tag of an ‘underdog’. The biggest reason behind this was even the captain and players knew the condition of the team and to call themselves a title contender, was like fooling others. The team has a mix of young and experienced guns and with likes of Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, the team can do wonders but they have a lot of homework to do, which will take its time.
If Sri Lanka is able to defeat India, then it would be the biggest disappointments in the history of Champions Trophy.
Tracking the strength –
From batting to bowling to bench, word strength is brewing in each and every department of Indian cricket team, barring fielding, where they faltered in the last game. Indian boys have to work on this aspect of the game so as to prevent any kind of bungle at the crucial stages.
Talking of Sri Lanka, the rich talent and bunch of seniors in the side are their biggest strength but a big challenge for them will be to channelise all this and then come up with a winning formula on the field when its the actual time to show your worth.
Match Prediction –
Indian team is expected to win this match due to the main reason that Sri Lanka is in phase of transformation and expecting them to perform at this stage against a strong team like India would be like forcing a child who has just learnt to speak – sing a song. The destination is still far away from Sri Lanka and they have to cover it step by step, day by day, to fill in the loopholes created after the retirement of their star players.