🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #14: Australia vs Sri Lanka 🏏- Page 2

Skipper Dasun Shanaka has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a right thigh muscle injury he sustained during their previous game against Pakistan. Chamika Karunaratne, the traveling reserve, will now replace him in the squad and Kusal Mendis will take over the captaincy duties.

Weather watch: It's expected to be cloudy (temperature to hover around 30 degrees) but the radar suggests no rain threat.

Weather watch: It's expected to be cloudy (temperature to hover around 30 degrees) but the radar suggests no rain threat.

After 10 days of uninterrupted action, only 3 teams are yet to get off the mark in the tournament. Call it surprise or shock, Australia, are one of them and, are languishing right at the bottom of the table. They will be up against 8th-placed Sri Lanka who, much like their opponents today, lost both their games thus far. For Sri Lanka, it's their bowling that hurt them the most and for the Aussies, it's their batting. Though the head-to-head record is heavily tilted in the favour of Australia (8-1), we have seen Afghanistan script history in Delhi yesterday. Can Sri Lanka do something similar, or will Australia storm a comeback? Hello and welcome to game 14.

ICYMI: Skipper Dasun Shanaka has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a right thigh muscle injury he sustained during their previous game against Pakistan. Chamika Karunaratne, the traveling reserve, will now replace him in the squad and Kusal Mendis will take over the captaincy duties.

Two games, two defeats, a trouncing by South Africa and a defeat clutched from the jaws of victory to a South Asian giant each. Suffice to say, Sri Lanka and Australia have plenty of parallels coming into this (almost) must-win tie in Lucknow. Where they diverge is in where they've fallen short; for Sri Lanka it's their attack that has struggled, leaking 773 runs over their first two games, while it would be generous to call Australia's batting out of sorts with their batters having failed to reach 200 in both their matches so far. So yeah, something's gotta give. Good afternoon folks, this is Madushka Balasuriya and I'll be calling the action today alongside Deivarayan Muthu, who will be with us shortly. On the live report will be Andrew Fidel Fernando.

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Unsurprisingly a lot has been said in the build up to this game. For Australia in particular such levels of underperformance, especially in a World Cup, is almost unprecedented. Former captain Aaron Finch has duly noted that their body language has been looking "quite flat" while current skipper Pat Cummins was equally blunt in his assessment, admitting that they've not been up to the standards expected. Karthik Krishnaswamy meanwhile has dug a little deeper into the challenges Australia have been facing through the tournament so far.

Thanks for the tag

I m confused which team to choose for win.

Sri Lanka's malaise meanwhile is more easily identifiable. It wasn't long ago they were on a run of 14 straight games where they bowled out the opposition, but as Fidel notes, injuries and flat Indian wickets have not helped their cause. But having come up against a South African juggernaut and a Pakistan rollercoaster amidst one of their upswings, Sri Lanka might almost be relieved to be facing this version of Australia, though they will have to do it under new leadership. Kusal Mendis has long been touted as a natural successor to Dasun Shanaka, and this will provide the Sri Lankan think tank the ideal opportunity to evaluate the former Under-19 captain's performances in as high pressure an environment as you're likely to find. Farveez Maharoof though is hopeful that it doesn't impact the tearaway start Mendis has made in this campaign.