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World Cup 2023, AUS Vs SL | Kumara, Karunaratne Roped In As Sri Lanka Opt To Bat

image-lnsm4bofSri Lanka will bat first against Australia [AP]

In a significant development, Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in their third group-stage match of the ongoing ICC World Cup. As Dasun Shanaka has been ruled out, Kusal Mendis came out for the toss and decided to bat on a slightly dry Lucknow deck. 

At toss, Mendis revealed that Sri Lanka have made two changes to their playing XI from the last game, replacing Matheesha Pathirana and Dasun Shanaka with Lahiru Kumara and Chamika Karunaratne, respectively. 

"We are going to bat first. The wicket is looking good and in the second half, there might be some turn. We watched the previous game and the wicket looks good to bat on in the first half. We have two changes. Dasun and Matheesha are not playing today and Chamika and Lahiru come in place of them."

Meanwhile, Australian captain Pat Cummins disclosed that they would’ve batted first, hoping the track wouldn’t change significantly in the latter half. He said,

"Yeah, that is fine (On bowling first). Probably, we would have batted first as well. I don't think that will make a lot of difference. I think, first of all, we need to stay calm, which we have done in the last couple of days. We had a couple of good training sessions. We don't really have a choice now. We have to play well, and that is what we need to do. Yeah, same XI as the last game." 

Sri Lanka Playing XI: Kusal Mendis (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka

Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood