England have won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru today (October 26), with both teams making several changes.
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Jos Buttler won the toss and has elected to bat against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. England had received a lot of flak in Mumbai for choosing to field after winning the toss on what was a flat surface. They seem to have corrected that mistake here as they batted on what is supposed to be another high-scoring venue.
England made as many as three changes from their defeat against South Africa. One of them was forced, with Reece Topley being ruled out of the World Cup. The two other players who’ve missed out in this game are Gus Atkinson and Harry Brook. England have replaced them with Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, and Chris Woakes, strengthening their spin department as well as extending their batting order in the process.
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Sri Lanka have made a couple of changes as well. Angelo Mathews, who replaced Matheesha Pathirana in Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad after the latter was ruled out of the tournament, has straightaway made it to the playing XI in place of Chamika Karunaratne. They also brought in fast bowler Lahiru Kumara for leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha.
At the toss, Buttler assured that England have a lot of individual and collective quality in their side but have not played to their potential so far, something they’d like to change.
Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, said that the Sri Lankan team is buoyed by the arrival of Mathews, who is one of the most experienced active international cricketers in the world.
Both England and Sri Lanka have managed just one victory in four games so far and would be desperately looking to get their second one in Bengaluru today.
