India eves face Lanka

After suffering a 32-run loss against defending champions England, Mithali Raj led Indian team would have to pull up their socks before locking horns with Sri Lanka in a must-win game for both the teams in ICC Women’s World Cup at the Brabourne Stadium here on Tuesday.

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, if they want to qualify for the knock out stages. After a comprehensive 105-run win against West Indies in the opener, the Indian eves struggled to chase down England’s target of 272 on Saturday.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had caused the biggest upset of the tournament with their last-ball win against England but in their second match they lost to West Indies by 209 runs. 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 day/night game. “If 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 anybody’s game. They have done well against England. I am hoping that our team puts on a good effort as usual,” Indian skipper Mithali Raj said.

India won the toss against England and elected to field, and the No 1 ICC women cricketer said her decision would be the same if she wins the toss against the island nation on the morrow.

Other matches (Cuttack): Australia vs New Zealand; South Africa vs Pakistan.