IND vs SL, World Cup 2023: India, Sri Lanka return to scene of epic 2011 final; LIVE streaming and more

More than 12 years since that memorable final, India and Sri Lanka are set to meet at the Wankhede Stadium in an ICC World Cup match once again.

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MS Dhoni’s India had ended a 28-year wait for a second world title with a six-wicket victory over their neighbours on that memorable Sunday night on 2 April in the ‘Maximum City’. Knocks from Gautam Gambhir (97) and Dhoni (91 not out) overshadowed opposition skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s unbeaten 103 as India ended up chasing the 275-run target with relative ease despite getting off to a shaky start. Sachin Tendulkar’s dream of finally holding the World Cup in his hands finally came true that night.

Fast forward to November 2023, and India and Sri Lanka couldn’t find themselves in more contrasting situations in the 13th edition of cricket’s showpiece event. The Rohit Sharma-led Indians are comfortably at the top of the 10-team table with six wins in as many outings, which has further reinforced their favourites tag. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, face an early flight back to Colombo after losing four out of six so far, the latest a seven-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in Pune.

A victory on Thursday will only officially confirm India’s place in the semi-finals and put a ‘Q’ against their name on the table, but it will take something extraordinary for the Men in Blue to fail to reach the knockouts from the position that they find themselves in.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have to win each of their three remaining fixtures by sizeable margins and at the same time hope other results go their way. While they won’t officially be eliminated from the race to the semis should they lose at the Wankhede, they’ll find it extremely tricky to finish in the top four with a maximum of just eight points.

Focus on Siraj’s form

With Hardik Pandya remaining sidelined due to a ligament injury that he suffered in the match against Bangladesh, chances of skipper Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid making any tweaks to their winning combination appear minimal.

Which would translate to India continuing with three frontline quicks as and Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja as their two spin options.

India’s bowling department has largely been clinical so far in the ongoing tournament, and were ruthless against England in Lucknow, where they shot the Jos Buttler-led side out for just 129 with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah sharing seven of those 10 wickets.

The spotlight however, will fall on Mohammed Siraj. The Hyderabadi seamer has got important breakthroughs throughout the campaign, including that of Babar Azam in the match against Pakistan that proved to be the turning point of the match. Siraj, however, has also leaked runs aplenty, with his six wickets coming at an average of 48.33.

Siraj also had an off day against England, where he went wicketless for 33 runs and was also involved in a couple of misfields.

The 29-year-old however, will back himself to regain his form against a side he had single-handedly decimated quite recently. Siraj had ripped the Sri Lankan batting unit to shreds with his haul of 6/21 in the Asia Cup final as the Lankans were bundled out for a paltry 50 in Colombo, with openers Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan chasing the target down in a little over six overs.

Siraj had a good measure of the Lankan batting lineup then, and will hope another strong performance against them will help him get back to his match-winning ways.

Struggling Lankans look up to Asia Cup rout for motivation

It’s not just Siraj and the Indians who will have that Asia Cup final in mind though. The Sri Lankans will be keen to exorcise the ghosts of that dismal batting performance with strong performance on Thursday.

England coach Chris Silverwood, for one, felt that defeat might just be a source of motivation for the Sri Lankans, who are without regular skipper Dasun Shanaka and key pacer Matheesha Pathirana due to injury.

“I’d rather hope that the defeat in the Asia Cup would give more motivation to the boys to come out and obviously fight tomorrow, show plenty of spirit and get stuck in to the Indian side.

“They’re a very good side, we know that, we’ve seen them play some superb cricket this tournament so far. But I think it’s a good opportunity for our boys to show what they’re made of as well,” Silverwood told reporters in Mumbai on the eve of the match.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, find themselves in a must-win situation following their seven-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in Pune on Monday.

Even if they do end up accomplishing the uphill task of collecting three wins in each of their remaining games including against India on Thursday, they’ll still have to depend on other results to go their way, in which case Net Run Rate could play a major role.

India vs Sri Lanka World Cup 2023 match date

The India vs Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup match will be played on Thursday, 2 November.

India vs Sri Lanka World Cup 2023 match time

The India vs Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup match will start at 2 PM IST. The toss will take place at 1.30 PM IST.

India vs Sri Lanka World Cup 2023 match venue

The India vs Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

India vs Sri Lanka World Cup 2023 match LIVE Streaming

The India vs Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup match will be broadcast live on Star Sports Network and live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar.

India vs Sri Lanka head-to-head

India lead Sri Lanka by a considerable distance in their ODI head-to-head record, leading them 98-57 in 167 meetings with one game ending in a tie and 11 in a No Result. Since the 2019 World Cup, India lead 7-1 in eight meetings.

As for their World Cup meetings, Sri Lanka and India are level on four wins each in eight meetings. Sri Lanka had won three of their first four meetings, including an upset victory in the 1979 World Cup match in Manchester. Since the 1999 World Cup however, India’s only defeat against Sri Lanka in World Cups came in the form of a knockout blow in the 2007 edition in Port of Spain.

Squads:

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

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