Champions Trophy: Australia face do-or-die battle against Sri lanka
London: Defending champions Australia will take on Sri Lanka in their final league fixture on Monday to decide the last of the remaining ICC Champions Trophy semifinal places.
A win will seal Sri Lanka’s place in the last four while a defeat will see them go home.
Sri Lanka’s recent success against Australia will provide a psychological edge to them — in the last 10 ODIs played between the two sides, Sri Lanka have won six while they drew the ODI series 2-2 earlier this year in Australia.
Australia have just one point from two games, starting their campaign with a defeat to England and then having their game against New Zealand washed out.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka were skittled out for a paltry 138 against New Zealand in their tournament-opener but a superb bowling show by slinger Lasith Malinga saw them very nearly defend the total before losing by one wicket.
Sri Lankan batsmen, however, gave a better account of themselves in their stunning run chase against England to romp home against the hosts. Led by Kumar Sangakkara’s unbeaten 134, they chased down the 294-run victory target with relative ease to keep their semifinal hopes alive