Sri Lanka Women have been handed a tough start to their ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 campaign. Having faced co-hosts India in their opener, they now host defending champions Australia on Saturday. The Lankans will hope for a much better show from their tournament, where they fell short in key moments.
No changes despite defeat from Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka and Australia will face off for the first time in over 6 years when the two teams take the field in Colombo on Saturday. Despite a tough loss, the Chamari Athapaththu led side are not in panic mode, with their captain urging her colts to bounce back from their mistakes.
Sri Lanka had reduced India to 124/6 but dropped four catches helping them get to 269. They started positively in the chase, but fell off the pedal after Athapaththu’s dismissal. The lack of support for Nilakshi de Silva hurt their chances of pulling off a major upset.
“There are things that I cannot control as a captain but I’ll control my bat and ball. Our preparation is good, because we played some games against national youth teams,” Athapaththu said ahead of the game.
There were positives for the hosts and hence it is unlikely that they change their XI. Vishmi Gunaratne’s form has been patchy, but she still walks into the strongest playing combination Sri Lanka can put up. There is a chance Sri Lanka could opt for Malki Madara, given the veteran look of their bowling attack.
Predicted SL-W XI: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Nilakshika Silva, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya, Udeshika Prabodhani
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