LEEDS, United Kingdom, July 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth
Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first against India at Headingley
on Saturday’s final day of the World Cup league phase.
The 1996 champions, who are playing for pride after bowing out of the
semi-finals race, made one change from their previous win over West Indies,
Thisara Perera coming in for Jeffrey Vandersay.
“It was an obvious plan, it’s a used wicket and will get slower and
slower,” Karunaratne said at the toss.
“We didn’t capitalise in the first few games, but we then started to
correct those mistakes and started to do well.”
Virat Kohli’s India have won six of their eight league matches to make the
semi-finals along with defending champions Australia, hosts England and New
Zealand.
The two-time winners have a chance to leapfrog table-topping Australia
with a win in Leeds but also need help from South Africa, who face Aaron
Finch’s side later at Old Trafford.
India made two changes to their starting line-up, with Ravindra Jadeja and
Kuldeep Yadav coming in for Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“We would have batted first as well, used pitch, will get slower as the
match progresses,” said Kohli.
“The team is doing well, we are striking a good balance at the right
time.”
India: Virat Kohli (capt), KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni
(wkt), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera (wkt), Avishka
Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews,
Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha, Lasith Malinga
Umpires: Paul Wilson (AUS), Ian Gould (ENG)
TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)