Australia, a pre-tournament favourite, and Sri Lanka, which often punches above its weight, will be desperate to open their World Cup 2023 account at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Monday.
Both sides are coming off two successive defeats, one against South Africa each, and find themselves on the wrong side of history.
While Sri Lanka conceded the highest total against the Proteas in its opener, it saw Pakistan pull off the highest successful chase in the tournament’s history in the following game. Australia, meanwhile, faced its heaviest World Cup defeat against South Africa in its previous match here and has kick-started a World Cup campaign with two losses for the first time since 1992.
