India lock horns with Sri Lanka in must-win WC match

With all the teams in Group A having won a match each the hosts would try to keep their dreams afloat in the series by winning the crucial league game tomorrow if they want to qualify for the knock out stages After a comprehensive 105run win against West Indies in the opener the Indian eves struggled to chase down England39s target of 272 yesterday Sri Lanka on the other hand had caused the biggest upset of the tournament with their lastball win against England but in their second match they lost to West Indies by 209 runs yesterday A record opening wicket stand of 175 between India39s firstever World Cup centurion Murugesan Tirushkamini and Poonam Raut set up a huge total for the hosts to defend against the Caribbean island side in the first game and India would hope the openers provide them a good platform after they missed out against England With vicecaptain Harmanpreet Kaur notching up her maiden century unbeaten 107 in the previous game India39s middle order would be bolstered though other players would have to pitch in to support her India has maintained a clean sheet against Sri Lanka in their 17 matches so far winning 16 of them while one was a no result However India are in no mood to take their neighbours lightly and would like to put their best foot forward in the daynight game tomorrow India39s wicketkeeper Sulakshana Naik during practice session Pic Atul Kamble quotIf we have to go inside the super six next game is do or die for us We are not going to take Sri Lanka lightly because on such wickets especially it could be anybody39s game They have done well against England I am hoping that our team puts on a good effort as usualquot Indian skipper Mithali Raj said India won the toss against England and elected to field and the no1 ICC women cricketer said her decision would be the same if she wins the toss against the island nation quotI will see if we are getting a fresh wicket because if it is the same condition I will still opt to field The way Jhulan bowled against England she was brilliant in her first spell so I wouldn39t want any other pacer to get that kind of an edge So I will still opt to field if we win the tossquot she said She admitted that the bowlers need to perform better during the power play overs as they conceded 45 runs in those five overs quotThe kind of start the bowlers have given us getting us the first breakthrough I only hope we don39t give away too many runs in the power play or the last session because that is where we were a little lost in the game against England That probably wouldn39t be happening in the next gameWe will try and minimise the boundariesquot Raj said Her Sri Lankan counterpart Shashikala Siriwardena said her team has no option but to win the match against India quotThe net run rate will be a problem that39s why we have no option but to go and win the match against Indiaquot she said As per the format one team from the group is eliminated and a loss to India will dent Sri Lanka39s dreams with West Indies playing England in the other game to be held in the morning at the Mumbai Cricket Association39s Bandra Kurla Complex ground The two teams have a higher net run rate than Sri Lanka Sri Lanka would hope their openers get going and try to replicate the century stand they shared against England Newball bowler Kaushalya Lokusooriya who saved the day against England would be raring to go against India after her wicketless performance against West Indies where she gave away 63 runs in her 7 overs Siriwardena said her side would try to improve their fielding as it cost them heavily against West Indies quotOur fielders let us down I am disappointed with it Eighty per cent of the singles they took should not have been conceded quotI will still tell the girls to look at the positives from last match and implement those against India At the same time we will try and learn from mistakes we committed against West Indies We will try to win the next match against India on February 5quot she said Teams from Sri Lanka Shashikala Siriwardena C Sandamali Dolawatta VC Chamari Attapaththu Eshani Lokusooriya Lasanthi Madushani Dilani Manodara Yasoda Mendis Udeshika Prabodani Oshadi Ranasinghe Inoka Ranaweera Deepika Rasangika Sherina Ravikumar Chamani Senevirathne Prasadini Weerakkody Sripali Weerakkody India Mithali Raj C Harmanpreet Kaur VC Ekta Bisht Amita Dass Jhulan Goswami Karuna Jain Reema Malhotra Mona Meshram Thirushkamini Murugesan Sulakshana Naik Niranjan Nagarajan Rasnara Parwin Poonam Raut Shubh Lakshmi Sharma Gouher Sultanau00a0