Dubai, Oct 9 (IANS): An unchanged India won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka in a crucial Group A game of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Dubai International Stadium here on Wednesday.

The last time these two sides met, Sri Lanka beat India to clinch their first Women's Asia Cup title at Dambulla in July. India need to win heavily against Sri Lanka, who are yet to register a win in their two games of the T20 World Cup, to improve their net run rate of -1.217 and maintain their slim chance of entering the semifinals.

“So far we haven't batted first so thought we would have a bat and put a decent total on the board. Feeling better (about neck injury), if we play better cricket maybe I will feel better. Asia Cup we played good cricket, one odd day (talking about the final where India lost to Sri Lanka) they played good cricket,” said India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have brought in Ama Kanchana, who replaces Hasini Perera, in the playing eleven. Captain Chamari Athapaththu has called on her team to play fearless cricket in what is also their first game of the tournament in Dubai.

“We stick with our plans and hope to play our best cricket today. We have to play fearless cricket and taking the smart option is very important. Powerplay is really important and after that, we have to rotate the strike,” she said.

Playing XIs:

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Sajeevan Sajana, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana and Renuka Singh Thakur

Sri Lanka: Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wicketkeeper), Ama Kanchana, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Udeshika Prabodhani and Inoka Ranaweera