In the tournament, India came back strongly from the devastation of 58 runs at the hands of New Zealand. They outplayed Pakistan by six wickets in Dubai. At the end of Group A stand the abysmal Sri Lanka who have lost both their matches-one by 31 runs to Pakistan and the other by six wickets to Australia.

Injury Concerns For India

India is concerned about the fitness of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who sustained a neck sprain during the last overs of the match against Pakistan. She was seen applying an ice pack post-game after retiring hurt. More importantly, Pooja Vastrakar did not play in the last game due to a marginal injury, and S Sajana replaced her. Whether Vastrakar will return for the Sri Lanka match is yet to be known.

Head-to-Head Advantage

India is pretty confident about their record in T20I with Sri Lanka, where they stand at 19-5. But one of those five defeats occurred just a few weeks ago in the Asia Cup final this July. So, India is desperate for revenge. For India to raise the ante, a win will be required as their win against Pakistan did not contribute much towards raising their NRR higher, where they confined Pakistan to just 105 runs. A defeat for Sri Lanka will be a huge blow to their chances of going any further.

Match Predictions

There hasn’t been much of a role played by dew till now in Dubai, but the pitch conditions itself and the long boundary lengths have made run-scoring tough.

Player to Watch: Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana has a decent record against Sri Lanka in T20Is, scoring 379 runs from 19 innings at an average of 22.29 with just two half-centuries. But she is the specialist opener that India would want to get off to a flying start with, something the team hasn’t managed yet in this tournament. If Harmanpreet doesn’t make it, Mandhana might end up taking on the captaincy as well. With recent performances under the limelight, she would surely like to make it count in this all-important game.

Squads

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, S Sajana

Sri Lanka squad: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilshari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sachini Nisansala, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Ama Kanchana, Sugandika Kumari

When India takes on Sri Lanka, it’s going to be a gripping contest that could well shake up the tournament points table.