India are set to lock horns with the reigning Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka to keep their semifinal hopes alive in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup tournament.
Having lost their campaign opener against New Zealand, India cannot afford to make any more slip-ups in the marquee tournament.
The Women in Blue had a fantastic opportunity against Pakistan to boost their net run rate (NRR) which had taken a beating following a 58-run loss at the hands of the White Ferns. However, they failed to make the most of it and could only manage a six-wicket win with seven balls to spare.
Though the win against Pakistan has helped India make its presence felt on the Group A points table, their net run rate (-1.217) is still not good enough.
The game against Sri Lanka is not going to be an easy one for India. Sri Lanka are coming into the contest on the back of two consecutive losses against Pakistan and Australia respectively but their captain Chamari Athapaththu has been vocal that her "team has nothing to lose".
"I know it's big pressure for both teams, but our team has nothing to lose. We are going with the underdog tag all the time. So we (want to) keep it simple and I want to play my best cricket and fearless cricket all the time," Chamari was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo in the lead-up to the clash against India.
India women vs Sri Lanka women head-to-head record in T20Is
The Women in Blue have played 25 T20Is against Sri Lanka thus far. India have a dominant record against Sri Lanka as they have won 19 out of the 25 games and only lost five encounters. One game couldn't yield a result.
India Women Squad: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sajeevan Sajana, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Dayalan Hemalatha, Yastika Bhatia
Sri Lanka Women Squad: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Sachini Nisansala, Shashini Gimhani
