Australia Are Such A Tough Side, India Need To Give More Than 200 Percent: Sehwag
Preview by Ganesh Chandrasekaran
It has boiled down to a straight knockout game between two traditional powerhouses of the game. Hosts India have found the going tougher in the ICC World T20 than in the games prior to it. A hard-fought win against Bangladesh must put them in a confident mood but Australia aren't too far behind. They have already won a game, convincingly against Pakistan, on the same ground just a night ago. So they must be quite buoyant as well.
Neither team's journey to this stage has been a fluent one. Australia have wrestled with their batting order and finding the right men for the right spots had been a big concern. It had affected their rotation of strike in the middle overs. But that was rectified thanks to Steven Smith in their last game. That Australia managed to put on their best batting performance automatically made their batting order look more potent as well. They, much like India, possess an array of match-winners with the bat. But it also matters a lot in which position they play in and the one that featured against Pakistan might be the one they stick with for the game against India as well.
MS Dhoni's men have not struggled with their eleven as much as they fought for rhythm. They were on a roll prior to the World T20 but the loss against New Zealand in the first game did rattle them. Two out of the three men who had played key roles before the tournament have failed to find their touch so far. So a lot rests upon Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, apart from Virat Kohli to shore up the batting unit. It hasn't helped their cause that they have played on turning or slow pitches so far in each of their games.
So far, the pitches at Mohali, have been on the slower side but definitely truer and has made batting a look easy. It is a 'typical T20 pitch' according to popular definition. One in which the batsmen can trust blind swings to carry over the ropes. However it remains to be seen if the pitch used tomorrow will play similar. The teams, mind you, will be playing on a pitch that is 40 overs old even before the game starts (the India-West Indies women's game will be played on the same pitch). So there is every chance that it might break up as the game progresses.
When: March 27, 2016, Super 10 Group 2- 7:00 PM IST
Where: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
What to expect: There hasn't been rain around in the week prior to the game and none expected on the match day as well
Team News:
India
There is unlikely to be a change to their playing eleven. They will be wary of what Australia brings to the table. The square boundaries at Mohali are significantly bigger than the ones that they've played on so far. So the batsmen will be making changes accordingly. A day before the game, Shikhar Dhawan was facing up to high full tosses in a bid to counter the bouncers expected from Australia's pacers. Similarly, the bigger boundaries will bring the spinners into play a lot more as well.
Australia
They too are unlikely to fiddle with a winning combination unless they see spin demons in the pitch. The move to send Shane Watson down the order worked quite splendidly for them and they are likely to persist with the same batting order as well. But that will be subject to change if the start is a good one. They have the advantage of a flexible batting order but so far they've been left searching for a settled one. There's a chance that this could be Shane Watson's last game in Australian colours so the team but the team will be hoping that he is able to stay on for two more games.
Quotes:
"Yeah he (Rahane) can replace Virat Kohli" - Shane Watson jests when asked if he would pick Rahane in the Indian eleven.
"Awareness counts a lot in this format. Sometimes you get carried away with the occasion or the importance of the game or the situation we are in, we forget what to do exactly what needs to be done for that particular delivery, that could be a game-changing moment. So that is why this format requires you to be at the top of your focus and concentration for 120 balls with the bat and on the field as well. That's the only thing we can look to do. Stay in the moment and not get carried away with the bigger picture. the results take care of itself if you do the process right." - Virat Kohli
Did you know?
India haven't lost more than one match in ICC tournaments since 2011.
Australia have lost their last five T20Is against India. They have also lost both their T20I matches against India in India.
The boundary percentage for India (13.89%) is the second lowest for a team in the Super Ten. On the other hand, the cumulative singles, doubles and threes percentage for Australia is the best - 48.15%.
It has boiled down to a straight knockout game between two traditional powerhouses of the game. Hosts India have found the going tougher in the ICC World T20 than in the games prior to it. A hard-fought win against Bangladesh must put them in a confident mood but Australia aren't too far behind. They have already won a game, convincingly against Pakistan, on the same ground just a night ago. So they must be quite buoyant as well.
Neither team's journey to this stage has been a fluent one. Australia have wrestled with their batting order and finding the right men for the right spots had been a big concern. It had affected their rotation of strike in the middle overs. But that was rectified thanks to Steven Smith in their last game. That Australia managed to put on their best batting performance automatically made their batting order look more potent as well. They, much like India, possess an array of match-winners with the bat. But it also matters a lot in which position they play in and the one that featured against Pakistan might be the one they stick with for the game against India as well.
MS Dhoni's men have not struggled with their eleven as much as they fought for rhythm. They were on a roll prior to the World T20 but the loss against New Zealand in the first game did rattle them. Two out of the three men who had played key roles before the tournament have failed to find their touch so far. So a lot rests upon Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, apart from Virat Kohli to shore up the batting unit. It hasn't helped their cause that they have played on turning or slow pitches so far in each of their games.
So far, the pitches at Mohali, have been on the slower side but definitely truer and has made batting a look easy. It is a 'typical T20 pitch' according to popular definition. One in which the batsmen can trust blind swings to carry over the ropes. However it remains to be seen if the pitch used tomorrow will play similar. The teams, mind you, will be playing on a pitch that is 40 overs old even before the game starts (the India-West Indies women's game will be played on the same pitch). So there is every chance that it might break up as the game progresses.
When: March 27, 2016, Super 10 Group 2- 7:00 PM IST
Where: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
What to expect: There hasn't been rain around in the week prior to the game and none expected on the match day as well
Team News:
India
There is unlikely to be a change to their playing eleven. They will be wary of what Australia brings to the table. The square boundaries at Mohali are significantly bigger than the ones that they've played on so far. So the batsmen will be making changes accordingly. A day before the game, Shikhar Dhawan was facing up to high full tosses in a bid to counter the bouncers expected from Australia's pacers. Similarly, the bigger boundaries will bring the spinners into play a lot more as well.
Australia
They too are unlikely to fiddle with a winning combination unless they see spin demons in the pitch. The move to send Shane Watson down the order worked quite splendidly for them and they are likely to persist with the same batting order as well. But that will be subject to change if the start is a good one. They have the advantage of a flexible batting order but so far they've been left searching for a settled one. There's a chance that this could be Shane Watson's last game in Australian colours so the team but the team will be hoping that he is able to stay on for two more games.
Quotes:
"Yeah he (Rahane) can replace Virat Kohli" - Shane Watson jests when asked if he would pick Rahane in the Indian eleven.
"Awareness counts a lot in this format. Sometimes you get carried away with the occasion or the importance of the game or the situation we are in, we forget what to do exactly what needs to be done for that particular delivery, that could be a game-changing moment. So that is why this format requires you to be at the top of your focus and concentration for 120 balls with the bat and on the field as well. That's the only thing we can look to do. Stay in the moment and not get carried away with the bigger picture. the results take care of itself if you do the process right." - Virat Kohli
Did you know?
India haven't lost more than one match in ICC tournaments since 2011.
Australia have lost their last five T20Is against India. They have also lost both their T20I matches against India in India.
The boundary percentage for India (13.89%) is the second lowest for a team in the Super Ten. On the other hand, the cumulative singles, doubles and threes percentage for Australia is the best - 48.15%.
Teams:
Australia (From): Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Peter Nevill(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Andrew Tye, John Hastings, Ashton Agar
India (From): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammed Shami, Pawan Negi, Ajinkya Rahane
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