Australia will face Sri Lanka in the 14th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 on Monday. The Pat Cummins-led team is at the bottom of the points table while the Sri Lankan team is at the eighth position and both teams are yet to win a match in this tournament.
The Australia vs Sri Lanka clash will take place at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow from 2 PM IST onwards.
Forced to treat every game as a final due to their awful start, skipper Pat Cummins on Sunday said Australia are fired up to perform against teams that they have done well against in the recent past.
Australia were crushed by hosts India in their opener before stumbling to a 134-run defeat to South Africa on Thursday.
The Men from Down Under find themselves in a precarious position to win at least six of their remaining seven games to make the semifinals. However, Cummins is not pressing the panic button just yet.
“Looking back at 2019, India and South Africa were the two teams that we lost to in the round games there. In the last year, they’re kind of the two teams that we’ve had the most trouble against. So, the opportunity now is we’ve got some teams we haven’t played for a while that we’ve had a lot of success against and be really confident when we go out there,” Cummins said on the eve of the match against Sri Lanka.
“Not an ideal start at all. Everyone’s desperate to turn it around. We’re obviously 0-2, so we’ve got to start winning and start winning quick. Every game now becomes almost like a final. You’ve got to win just about all of them,” he said.
Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Mendis is confident Sri Lanka’s batting unit can pull off a win against a woefully out-of-form Australia in the World Cup match on Monday.
“I have a lot of confidence in our batting, I think we can do everything. I think we have a better batting unit — in form and bowling unit also,” Mendis said on the eve of the game against Australia.
The Sri Lankan captaincy fell into Mendis’ lap after regular skipper Dasun Shanaka was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury but the wicketkeeper-batter doesn’t feel the pressure of leading the side will affect his batting.
“I’m very happy that I got the captaincy. I will continue to play the same way as I used to because captaincy is not something new for me. I have captained other teams before, even in the practice game in Guwahati, I led the team. There will be no change to my playing style,” he said.
Here are the live telecast and live streaming details about the crucial World Cup 2023 match for Australia and Sri Lanka: