With the semi-final spot firmly sealed, India would now want to get the better of Sri Lanka and then hope, South Africa beat Australia in the other match. What this could mean is that Virat Kohli and team will take the number one spot and will then face New Zealand in the semi-final clash. Despite booking their berth in the semi-finals, there are a number of concerns which still plague this Indian team and the management would want answers to a number of questions in this match against Sri Lanka.
Mayank Agarwal is in England and is a man in form. Will the management be aggressive and ask him to open and slot KL Rahul in the middle order. For all the runs which Rahul has made so far, he has not looked very fluent. Also, with India's middle-over muddle refusing to go away, he could be the perfect fit for the number four slot.
Rishabh Pant at number 5 makes sense
Also, Rishabh Pant, for all his panache, is still raw at this level and hence, batting at number 5 with MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya to follow renders a far more balanced look to the side. This is possibly the last chance for any changes to be made before the semis and the perfect opportunity to experiment with the batting order.
As far as the bowling order is concerned, it has a very settled look. Will India rest Jasprit Bumrah - this is the biggest question considering his workload. If this does happen, it could make way for Kuldeep, who will have a big chance to resurrect his World Cup campaign.
"This is my first World Cup so I'd like to play as many games as possible... The more matches you play, the more you enjoy," Bumrah said after the win against Bangladesh, but, well, for the larger good of the side, he could miss the game so that he is fit and firing for the knockouts.
Mohammed Shami has been good with the new ball but has gone for plenty of runs in the death overs. Hence, for him, this is a match where he needs to find his mojo back and find rhythm ahead of the sterner tests which await.
Here is India's predicted XI for the match:
Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
