India vs Sri Lanka, ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Game 8: Another one sided game on cards. Can Sri Lanka emerge as dark horse? [Preview]

A confident India will look to booking a semi-final berth with a win against Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Group B match at The Oval

By: Karan Nanda |
June 8, 2017 10:53 am

After thrashing arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening Group B game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 at Edgbaston Cricket Stadium in Birmingham on June 4, a confident Indian team will now to look to dominate another neighbours Sri Lanka. A win in Thursday’s encounter would see the men-in-blue go through to the semi-finals alongside hosts England. This Group B encounter will be held at The Oval on June 8. The match will start at 3 PM IST.

After having registered a massive 124-run win over Pakistan, India will look to demolishing the opponents with their all-round performance with bat, ball and fielding. While for Sri Lanka this is a must-win battle for them to keep their hope of playing sem-final alive. They lost their first encounter against AB de Villiers-led South Africa by mammoth 96-run.

__ India are raring to go! #INDvSL #CT17 pic.twitter.com/5xTH3uZ1Ii

— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017

Ahead of the game Indian skipper advised his side to be “ruthless”.

“Be ruthless and finish games off because the teams which bat deep can still have a 60-70 run partnership towards the end. In a tournament like this, we need to plug those holes and we have identified that and going to work hard on those areas,” Virat Kohli said a pre-match conference.

Key Players

India: With the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya in the batting line-up, team India can dominate any side on their day. In the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah can be lethal in English conditions.

We sat down with @hardikpandya7 who talked us through a towering shot he hit over the fence against Pakistan last weekend ___ pic.twitter.com/3WG5tfsyAV

— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017

Sri Lanka: There is one good news for the team. Experienced all-rounder Mathews has been declared fit to play against India and that will be a substantial boost for the islander. In today’s match Sri Lanka will heavily depend upon their front-line pacer Lasith Malinga to provide them with important breaks.

Sri Lanka look ready to take on India at The Oval! Can they beat the defending champions? #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/5yQjuyEU6J

— ICC (@ICC) June 8, 2017

Weather Prediction

Rain has played spoilsport in most of the matches during this Champion Trophy. The London weather on Thursday too will look to dampen the match with forecasts of 40 per cent chance of heavy rainfall.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (Captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickewalla (wicket-keeper), Chamara Kapugedara, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Sekkuge Prasanna, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan, Lasith Malinga, Asela Gunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Upul Tharanga.

___ Sri Lanka started like a house on fire, but were ultimately contained by the world No. 1 team. Here are the highlights _ #CT17 #SLvSA pic.twitter.com/KquCDAkkNC

— ICC (@ICC) June 3, 2017

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