Their house in complete disarray after consecutive defeats, Australia will look to wake up from the slumber and return to winning ways against an equally stuttering Sri Lanka in the World Cup match in Lucknow on Monday.
Both teams are in search of a maiden win in the tournament. While Australia suffered humiliating losses to India and South Africa, Sri Lanka were beaten by against the Proteas and Pakistan.
Australia have looked like a pale shadow of their dominant selves in this tournament. The five-time champions are placed ninth in the 10-team league table following their horrendous Net Run Rate (-1.846), while the Lankans are seventh on the table with a NRR of -1.161.
The Aussies desperately need to get their act together to stay in contention. But it is easier said than done as they have lost seven of their last eight ODIs comprehensively.
They have performed poorly in all three departments of the game in this tournament, and were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field.
They dropped a whopping six catches in two games -- the most by any team so far in this edition of the World Cup.
Their bowling attack also looks toothless and they have failed miserably with the bat, suffering mini-collapses, and are yet to cross 200 runs. They were rocked by India's spin bowling in the opener and then by the South African pacers.
But facing the battered and bruised Sri Lankan bowling attack could be the perfect opportunity for Australia’s batters to find some form.
They are also familiar with the Ekana pitch having trained in the city for close to a week and played against South Africa at the venue.
Skipper Pat Cummins had insisted earlier this week that they won't be rotating their bowlers, which means Australia will stick to their three-pronged pace attack of Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc with Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell sharing spin duties.
Sri Lanka too have underperformed at the mega event. They occupy seventh spot on the points table.
While their batting line-up has done reasonably well, putting up scores in excess of 320 in both the previous games, their bowling is an area of concern.
In the absence of several frontline bowlers, Sri Lanka's relatively inexperienced bowling attack has conceded a whopping 775 runs in their first two matches.
The Lankans looked on course to register their first win against Pakistan, but the inexperience of youngsters like 20-year-old Matheesha Pathirana came to the fore as the former champions couldn't stop leaking runs that resulted in a World Cup record run chase.
With skipper Dasun Shanaka ruled out of the tournament due to a thigh injury, Kusal Mendis will lead the Island nation.
Chamika Karunaratne, who is a like-for-like replacement for Shanka, will bolster the bowling attack and is expected to play on Monday.
Squads (from):
Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
Sri Lanka: Kusal Mendis (captain), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Kumara, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushan Hemantha, Chamika Karunaratne.
Match starts: 2:00 pm.
