Sanjay Manjrekar Predicts India Win Over Lanka: Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has predicted that India will win their upcoming match against Sri Lanka in the ongoing 2024 Womens T20 World Cup.
The Indian Womens Cricket Team will face Sri Lanka in Match 12 of the tournament, which will also be the third match in Group A for both teams. The game will be played in the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, October 9 at 7:30 PM IST.
India has not had a good tournament so far. In their opening game, the Women in Blue were thrashed by New Zealand, losing to the Kiwis by 58 runs. Then came the game against Pakistan. After bowling out the arch-rivals for 105 runs, India struggled to get to the target, not being able to make up the difference in the net run rate following the New Zealand match.
Sanjay Manjrekar Predicts India Win Over Lanka
Speaking on India’s chances against Sri Lanka in the upcoming match, Sanjay Manjrekar had this to say about his recent appearance on Star Sports’ ‘Game Plan’ show. He said,
“I feel India should win this match. India are a good team. The top three teams in this group are India, New Zealand, and Australia. Sri Lanka might have defeated India in the Asia Cup, but India’s track record against Sri Lanka is good.”
Manjrekar then went on to name Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athpaththu as the player to watch out for in the opposition’s line-up.
“The entire team would have gotten totally used to the Dubai pitch by then. If you can get Sri Lanka’s top-order player Athapaththu out early, Sri Lanka does not have that much batting depth as well,” he said.
The last India vs Sri Lanka meeting in women’s cricket ended with an unexpected result. In the final of the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup earlier this year, India was handily beaten by the Lankan Lionesses. This came after both teams came to the final unbeaten. And while Sri Lanka was playing at home, what made this result surprising is how big of a gap is there in the ranking of these two teams. While Harmanpreet Kaur’s women were ranked third in Women’s T20 cricket, Sri Lanka was ranked seventh.
Finally, the former Indian batter commented on how this game would be easier for India, seeing they will be playing in the same venue for the third time in the World Cup, saying,
“They (Sri Lanka) have a good left-arm spinner with the name (Sugandika) Kumari. So she might come very early to bowl against India. However, I believe that India will be more ready while playing at the same venue for the third time. Maybe you will see India at their best in that match.”
After facing Sri Lanka, the Indian Womens Cricket team will face their biggest challenge in this tournament against Australia on October 12 in what may end up being a must-win match.
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