ODI World Cup :Australia vs Sri Lanka -The battle for redemption!

       Australia will take on Sri Lanka at Ekana Sports city, Lucknow on 16 October. The match will start at 2:00 pm IST. The Australian team had a poor start to the world cup 2023. For the first time in cricket world cup history,  Australia has been defeated in the first two opening matches. Australian team is not looking like the same team as they have been for the past 25 years. The five-times champions was defeated by India in opening match by 6 wickets. Australia team didn't have great game. Australia's batters struggled to put up a big score on the board. They were bowled out for 199 runs. In second innings Australia had a great start against India. They had taken 3 wickets on 2 runs. India was in troubled. But Virat Kohli was dropped for 12 by Mitchell Marsh. That was turning point of match. Virat Kohli and Kl Rahul took India out of a difficult situation and led India to victory. While in second match South Africa defeated Australia by 134 runs. South Africa had set target of 312 runs for Australia. Australia's batters could not even cross the 200 mark in the run chase and were all out for 177 runs.

    Sri Lanka's situation is quite similar to Australia Sri Lanka had two defeat in two matches. In their first match against South Africa Sri Lanka had won toss and elected to bat. This decision proved to be a big setback for Sri Lankan team. South Africa had set mammoth target of 429 runs for Sri Lanka, which was highest total in world Cup history. Sri Lanka made a lot of effort , but they were unsuccessful in chasing that mammoth target. They were all out for 326 runs. In the second match as well nothing change for Sri Lanka. They had set target of 345 runs in front of Pakistan. Pakistan managed to achieve that target in 48.2 overs, and handed Sri Lankan  team their second defeat in the tournament. Both Sri Lanka and Australia are placed 7th an 9th on points table respectively. On 16 October both the team have a great chance to make a comeback. 

Australia vs Sri Lanka stats, record in ODI world cup history.

     Australia and Sri Lanka have faced each other 11 times in ODI world Cup. Australia has emerged victorious in 8 of those encounters. While Sri Lanka won 2 matches. 376 runs is the highest total posted by Australia against Sri Lanka in world Cup. While 123 is the lowest total posted by Sri Lanka vs Australia in tournament. In the recent meetings between Australia vs Sri Lanka , we witnessed dominant performance by Australia. In 2015 world Cup they defeated Sri Lanka by 64 runs and in 2019 they secured victory with commanding lead of 87 runs. 

    On the 16th of October ,the burning question is which team will draw first blood and claim their initial win in World Cup 2023? What are your thoughts on which team will claim victory ,and who will be standout player in this match?