The Ekana Stadium pitch has passed muster and that would give both teams the confidence to give off their best and produce an exciting game for the Lucknow crowds, who rarely get to see top teams in action
Pat Cummins
Australia captain Pat Cummins feels that his team are ready to turn it around, beginning with the game against Sri Lanka at the Ekana Stadium here today. The Aussies have hardly looked the side that have won the World Cup five times. Right now, they are down in the dumps after suffering defeats in their first two games against hosts India and South Africa. Luckily, they are up against Sri Lanka, who have lost their opening two games and are now without their captain Dasun Shanaka, who, after suffering a quad injury is out of the tournament.
It’s not just the losses that have rankled the Aussies, but the manner of the defeats and the performance of their batters. In both their games, they were bowled out for sub-200 totals when the other teams have been posting big scores. Besides, their atrocious fielding in these two matches would put a school team to shame.
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Despite being under immense duress, Cummins said that the Australian players are ready to turn things around. “Yeah, it’s not [an] ideal [start] at all. I think everyone after the last game was a little bit flat. But the last couple of days have been really good. Everyone’s kind of rolled up their sleeves and want to try and get to work and make amends. So, the mood in the camp has been fantastic. Everyone’s great. Everyone’s desperate to turn it around.
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“I think looking back at 2019, India and South Africa were the two teams that we lost to in the round [robin] games there [in England]. I think in the last year, they’re the two teams that we’ve had the most trouble against. So, you know, the opportunity now is we’ve got some teams we haven’t played for a while or that we’ve had a lot of success against and [will] be really confident when we go out there,” the Aussie captain said.
As for the Sri Lankan team, they have been struggling right from the time they were bundled out for a mere 50 in the Asia Cup final, and losing the first two World Cup games has not helped their cause. Their skipper Shanaka, too was under great pressure for not being able to lead the team by example. It needs to be seen if his departure from the team and vice-captain Kusal Mendis set to take over the role of the skipper, will bring about a change in the fortunes of the 1996 champions in the remainder of the tournament.
The Ekana Stadium pitch has passed muster and that would give both teams the confidence to give off their best and produce an exciting game for the Lucknow crowds, who rarely get to see top teams in action.
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