Match Preview: Dominant India to face dangerous Australia in semis

Match facts

Thursday, March 26, 2015
Start time 9:00 am IST (1430 local) (0330 GMT)

Big picture
India has struggled against the home side in Australian summer and they are yet to win a match against Aussies on this four-month long tour. India was outplayed by Australia in the World Cup warm-up game as well. Are aussies going to continue their winning streak against the defending champions or Dhoni & Co. will have the last laugh? Even though, India couldn't win a match against the hosts but they have set wold cup on fire as Team India will be looking forward to win its eight game in the row. If Aussies have home advantage then India is also not too far away as they are expected to get as much support as Australia would get at Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG). Australia's record is fabulous in semis but Dhoni has also never lost a semifinal while leading Men in Blue.

Despite winning their quarterfinal convincingly against Pakistan, Wahab Riyaz's tremendous spell has exposed some chinks in Australia's armor. If India won't loss much wickets in first 20 overs then Aussies are going to find ample task in their hand to contain India with just three regular bowlers. Though, depth and firepower in their batting line-up can derail the Indian bowling which has been outstanding so far. Indian pacers have enjoyed bowling short in this World Cup and they will not hesitate in testing Australian batsmen with bombarding of short pitched deliveries. On the other hand, Unbeatable India has ticked almost all the boxed correctly but they will have to be very careful against this dangerous Austalian side which has 8-9 match-winners who can change the scenario of game single handedley. Virat's form may be a matter of concern for Dhoni but his ability to play big innings in big match is not hidden from anyone as Indian camp will again be hoping another special innings from Kohli to take India through to the final.

Form Guide
(last five matches, most recent first)
India WWWWW
Australia WWWWL

In the spotlight
Ravindra Jadeja - He didn't get much opportunity though with the bat but his ability to play useful innings at number seven is still under the scanner. However, little cameo of around 20 runs in the quarterfinal must be providing some relief to the Indian camp. Jadeja was hammered all around the park on the small grounds of New Zealand but he can be a handy customer with his left arm spin at Sydney considering the presence of too many right handers in the Australian batting line-up. If India want to retain the title then this Saurashtra all-rounder will have to contribute to the team cause with both bat and ball.

Aaron Finch - After smashing an explosive century in the first league match against England, Finch is having quite an ordinary World Cup. He will have huge responsibility to deny in-form Indian pacers an early strike as hosts are waiting another memorable innings from devastating Finch.

Team News
India will not change the winning combination in such a big encounter which can very well turn out to be a match of the tournament as well.
India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav 

Maxwell did a fine job against Pakistan with his off-spin and it is highly unlikely that they will include Xavier Doherty against India. They too are expected to go with an unchanged team.
Australia(probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Shane Watson, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Brad Haddin, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions
Surprisingly, it was the spin duo of Proteas which destroyed Sri lankan batting line-up in the quarterfinal at Sydney. SCG pitch normally assist spinners but with no quality spinners in Australian side, some grass is expected for the second semifinal. With nice and bright sunshine on 26th March, it will be a lovely weather at SCG for the semifinal clash.

Quotes
"I don't think poor shot selection is the case. Kohli is a dominant batsman, he loves playing his strokes. I don't think he has batted badly at all. He is concentrating on process. And he is a big occasion player and would fire on a big day."
Indian captain MS Dhoni

"I think we targetted India pretty well this summer. They haven't won a game against us all through the summer. Hopefully that is pretty clear in their memories."
Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell