MUMBAI (Reuters) – Memories of Sri Lanka’s humbling defeat to India in the Asia Cup final in September will add extra motivation to the team when they face the hosts in Thursday’s key World Cup clash, coach Chris Silverwood said.
India bundled out Sri Lanka for just 50 for a 10-wicket win in the final of the regional Asia Cup in Colombo in a near-perfect build-up to the 50-overs showpiece event.
Rohit Sharma’s men have been in top form in the World Cup, winning all six of their round robin games, and face the island nation who have managed to win two of their six games.
“I’d rather hope that the defeat in the Asia Cup would give more motivation to the boys to come out and obviously fight tomorrow, show plenty of spirit and get stuck in to the Indian side,” Englishman Silverwood told reporters on Wednesday.
“They’re a very good side, we know that, we’ve seen them play some superb cricket this tournament so far. But I think it’s a good opportunity for our boys to show what they’re made of as well.”
On Thursday, India and Sri Lanka will return to the Wankhede Stadium, which hosted the 2011 World Cup final that the hosts went on to win.
After losing their opening three games, Sri Lanka appeared to have arrested their slide when they picked up successive wins over the Netherlands and champions England.
However, a defeat to Afghanistan in their previous match once again complicated their push to qualify for the semi-finals.
Silverwood said Sri Lanka would have to contend with a very strong Indian bowling attack if they are to return to winning ways.
“I think any team in the world would want an attack like that, to be honest,” he said.
“We see that as a great challenge for our guys. We see it as an opportunity to go out and play against the best and… pit ourselves against that.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
