India win toss, bat against Sri Lanka
GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka in a must-win World Twenty20 Super Eights match at the Beausejour Stadium here on Tuesday.
India made three changes from the side that lost to the West Indies by 14 runs in Barbados on Sunday. They brought in opening batsman Dinesh Karthik for Vijay Murali, Vinay Kumar for fellow quick Zaheer Khan and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for left-arm slow bowler Ravindra Jadeja.
Sri Lanka also altered the line-up that suffered a heavy 81-run defeat by Australia in Barbados last weekend. Spinner Ajantha Mendis, batsman Dinesh Chandimal and pace bowler Chanaka Welegedara have been replaced by left-arm quicks Thissara Perera and Thilan Thushara as well as seamer Chinthaka Jayasinghe.
For India, the inaugural champions back in 2007, to get through to the semi-finals they had to beat Sri Lanka by at least 20 runs and then hope that hosts West Indies lost to Australia in the day''s second and last Group F match, also taking place at Beausejour.
Sri Lanka, currently in second place in the group thanks to a better run-rate than that of the West Indies, knew that if they beat India and Australia beat the hosts, the Aussies and themselves would go through.
Sri Lanka will also be through if they lose to India by fewer than 20 runs and Australia beat the West Indies.
However, even a win over India would not assure last year''s losing finalists of a semi-final spot should the home side defeat Australia.
Sri Lanka have so far conceded 24 more runs than they have scored, while for the West Indies the corresponding number is 43.
If both teams win their final games and West Indies win by a margin that eradicates that difference, they will go through.
Teams
India: Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wk), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Ashish Nehra
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (captain/wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Suraj Randiv, Lasith Malinga, Thilan Thushara.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Steve Davis (AUS), TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)
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India win toss, bat against Sri Lanka
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