ENG vs SL | Moeen Ali, Livingstone & Chris Woakes Drafted In; Lankan Make Two Changes
On Thursday, England have won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
After three losses in the World Cup 2023, the reigning champions, England find themselves in a do-or-die spot. Things haven't been upto the plan since their defeat to New Zealand in the curtain-raiser of the tournament.
Neither batting nor bowling is clicking for the defending champs. Before getting the beating through the hands of South Africa, they made three changes, removing Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes from their playing XIs. However, Reece Topley's unforeseen injury and the batting collapse have forced them to make a handful of changes yet again.
The English management has brought back Moeen Ali and Livingstone to stabilise their management ahead of a crucial clash against Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the seam-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes will be included to fill in the void caused by Topley's injury. Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson have been dropped.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have made two changes, replacing Chamika Karunaratne and Dushan Hemantha with Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Kumara. The upcoming clash is as crucial for the Lankans as well.
The Jos Buttler-led side have thus far lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan and South Africa, with their solitary victory coming against Bangladesh. Meanwhile, if they win all their remaining matches and teams like Pakistan and Australia continue their disastrous run, the Three Lions can get into the top four.
Thus far in the tournament, Bengaluru has been a belter of a wicket, with the game between Australia versus Pakistan being hosted the same venue.
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