ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Match 14, India vs Sri Lanka: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

With three wins, India Women became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup. They will now play Sri Lanka Women for their last league match, at the Dockyards, Melbourne. A win here will guarantee them top spot in the group irrespective of the outcome of the Australia-New Zealand match. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be eliminated if they lose. Their last group match, against Bangladesh, will be of no consequence.

Sri Lanka’s defeat against both New Zealand and Australia and New Zealand have more to do with their inability to take advantage of the situation at crunch moments. In the first, they were 87/1 in the 12th over before they finished on 127/7. In the second, they were 91/2 after 14 before stumbling to 122/6. They even reduced Australia to 10/3 but failed to take advantage. A more sustained effort may help them cause an upset.

The spinners, Shikha Pandey, and some tremendous hitting from Shafali Verma, on the other hand, have helped India win three in three. Sri Lanka will do score quickly against the Indian attack, especially if Chamari Athapaththu fails to get going. It will be an uphill task, and India will take field as favourites.

Head to head

India have won 13 and lost 3 matches against Sri Lanka. This includes an ongoing run of 9 consecutive wins, punctuated by a no-result encounter.

Key players

Radha Yadav (India Women): Left out for the first three matches, Radha finally returned to the side when India decided to play all four spinners. If they revert to three subsequently, Radha is the one likely to be left out. She will probably push harder than others here.

Udeshika Prabodhani (Sri Lanka Women): One of a handful of left-arm seamers in the tournament, Prabodhani had swung the new ball through the defences of Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner to hit timber. Sri Lanka will need these early breakthroughs, especially with Verma around.

Likely XIs

India Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Sri Lanka Women: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Umesha Thimashini, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Nilakshi de Silva, Ama Kanchana, Shashikala Siriwardene, Harshitha Madavi, Kavisha Dilhari, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani.

Prediction

India Women to win comfortably.