ICC World T20 2012, Super Eights: India vs Australia – preview

Colombo: India are likely to go in with five specialist bowlers to plug their bowling loopholes when they take on the mighty Australians in its opening `Super Eight` fixture of the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.

The comprehensive victory against England and Harbhajan Singh`s brilliant comeback has raised questions as to what exactly will be a winning combination against George Bailey`s men who have looked good in both their group league matches against Ireland and West Indies respectively.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has given clear indications that he would go in with five specialist bowlers, a move which will mean that India will have one batsman short.

In that case, either opener Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh may have to sit out of the match and Dhoni admitted that it would be a "tough decision".

While the England match was won with five bowlers, it was more about testing a different combination as the result had no bearing on the Super Eights classification.

It will be interesting to see what bowling combination Dhoni would prefer for the first `super eight` game and whether he would opt for three spinners or three pacers.

On current form, Lakshmipathy Balaji is a better bowler at the death overs than the 33-year-old Zaheer Khan mainly because of the variety of slower deliveries that he has in his repertoire.

The two key batsmen in the Australian set-up are left-handers David Warner and Mike Hussey. The presence of the duo at the top of the order certainly means that Harbhajan`s inclusion is necessary because of his stupendous record against the left-handers.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who was rested against England, will also make a comeback into the playing eleven. The other certainty in the bowling department is Irfan Pathan, who has been providing the team with breakthroughs regularly.

The batting, however, bears a much more settled look with the good news being that Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma are back among runs.

The only thing to worry will be Yuvraj Singh`s place in batting order. The talented left-hander has been struggling with the bat.

While ODI matches give him a chance to settle down, the number of dot balls Yuvraj has played in the recent matches is something that he needs to figure out.

Although the 22-yard strip at the R Premadasa Stadium will assist the slower bowlers, the Aussie fast bowlers are likely to test the Indian batsman with short-pitched stuff.

The Indian team was seen preparing to counter the bouncers and the players were seen playing the horizontal bat shot during the nets.

A lot will depend on how Virat Kohli bats as he has been in the form of his life. Even Hussey had admitted yesterday that the Aussies were expecting Kohli to have one of his rare off-days against them.

Rohit`s half-century has certainly boosted his confidence and the innings has come at the right time as the margin for error is too little at this stage of the tournament.


The main threat for India will be all-rounder Shane Watson who in prime form having won back-to-back MoM awards. Watson has been cleverly used by skipper Bailey as he has proved to be a potent partnership breaker.

The Indian batsmen will need to be careful against Watson. Left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc can prove to be a handful but it will be chinaman bowler Brad Hogg who will need to play a big role.

The only problem for Australia will be its middle-order which hasn`t been tested in the two matches which were single-handedly won by Watson.

The all-rounder has taken full advantage of the Powerplay overs to slaughter the bowlers. With Warner and Hussey for company, the `terrific trio` make up for a superb top-order.

Tomorrow`s match will be a duel between two bowling units where Indian spinners are pitted against Aussie pacers in what promises to be a fantastic form.

Squads:

India: MS Dhoni (c), Gautam Gambhir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh.

Australia: George Bailey (c), Dan Christian, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hogg, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Match starts at 7.30 pm (IST).

Live Cricket

Check out the websites for live cricket streaming of the India vs Australia  match here:

1. http://www.espnstar.com/live/

2. www.iStream.com

3. www.cricketnirvana.com

4. www.watchcriclive.com/

5. http://www.india-station.com/cricket/live_video.html

6. www.crictime.com

7. www.cricket-365.net/

8. www.biglivecricket.com

World T20: Will India's five-bowler plan work against Australia?

Having topped Group A, MS Dhoni’s India need to pull up their socks and plug in the loopholes when they take on Australia in their first ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights match at the Premadasa in Colombo on Friday.

On the eve of the match in a press conference, Dhoni hinted that he would go in with five bowlers. That means that one batsman has to be dropped, and though Dhoni did not reveal who the unlucky player would be, he admitted it would be his toughest decision.
Just who those five bowlers India pick is already a problem of plenty for India. In all probability it will be a three-prong spin attack with one fast bowler and Irfan Pathan as the allrounder. Harbhajan Singh made a strong comeback in the last match against England and is sure to play with two left-handers in the form of David Warner and Michael Hussey in the Australian team. Irfan’s bowling form and ability to open the innings mean he is a first-choice pick, leaving Zaheer Khan and L Balaji to fill the pace bowler’s slot. R Ashwin, who was rested in the England match, should return as the third spinner alongside Harbhajan and Piyush Chawla – the pair that spun a web around England.

India have hassles with their batting too, namely the form of their openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. For five bowlers to play one batsman has to sit out, and rumors are rife that that man is Sehwag, who is going through a lean patch. In that scenario one of Irfan, Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma could be promoted to partner Gambhir, who himself needs runs to boost his confidence. Kohli is in unbelievable touch and Rohit – after a horror run of late – has hit form with three solid innings in Sri Lanka. Down the order, Dhoni and Suresh Raina provide the much needed firepower, but the Indian batsmen can be tested by the Australian bowlers with the short stuff. Pat Cummins has already stated Australia’s intent of bouncing out Raina, a batsman with short-ball woes, and though his half-century against England would have given Rohit some needed confidence, he will have his task cut out against Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Shane Watson. Yuvraj Singh’s patchy form since returning from cancer is also a worry for India.
For George Bailey’s team, it has been a one-man show from Shane Watson who is presently in a destructive mode in the World Twenty20 and well supported by Warner and Hussey. The only concern for Australia would be that of their middle order, which is yet to be tested.
This match puts forward an interesting contest of India’s spinners and Australia’s pacers, as the batsmen on both sides have to put their best foot forward, which in itself throws a challenge to both the sides in a format that allows little time to settle down.

Openers crucial as Australia face India in Super Eights

Colombo (Reuters) - Opening partnerships will be crucial when unbeaten India and Australia face each other in the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup, the opposing captains said on Thursday.
India and Australia cruised through the early group phase without defeat, but their openers have enjoyed contrasting fortunes heading into Friday's clash in Colombo.

India have struggled early in their innings with stalwart Virender Sehwag, who managed only eight runs against Afghanistan, dropped for their second game against England in favour of all-rounder Irfan Pathan.
"I think it's important to get off to a good start with the new ball because you can put pressure on the opposition bowler," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni told reporters.
"Then more often than not what happens is they look to save themselves if you have a good start and you have the upper hand.
"It is also important in the subcontinent, because initially the ball comes on to the bat nicely, but between the eighth and 12th over, the game changes.
"We have seen wickets slow down and stroke play becomes a bit tough. It is important that the top four or five batsmen take advantage of the ball coming on to the bat."
When asked if he planned to drop a batsman in order to accommodate another bowler, like he did in their 90-run victory over England, Dhoni said it would be "one of the toughest decisions that he had taken so far".
"We'll have to see what fits the combination the best," he said.

In contrast to Friday's opponents, Australia's openers Shane Watson and David Warner have performed consistently in their round robin matches.
All-rounder Watson earned the man of the match award against Ireland and West Indies, top scoring for his side with the bat in both games and taking five wickets.
Australian captain George Bailey, however, told reporters his team were not over-reliant on Watson.
"Teams know if Shane or David bat for 10 or 15 overs, it's going to be very hard for them to chase down our score," he said.
"I guess in that regard it is crucial, (but) I don't think the rest of us are just making up the numbers. I certainly think there are some pretty good players behind them as well."

World T20: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle down England

Gayle bowled an impressive spell of four overs for 27 and took the wicket of Jonny Bairstow.

Ravi Rampaul had earlier derailed the run chase with two wickets off successive balls with England yet to score.

That was an interesting game of T20 cricket. West Indies put the runs on the board and came back to strike early in the chase. England were a bit down and played too many dot balls. Morgan and Hales then put on a fine partnership, which got them close but not close enough to see the win. They had six wickets in hand, but still fell short by 15 runs.

A victory for West Indies but great fight from England after being to down without a run on the board. Alex Hales hung around till the final over with Bairstow giving him nice support. But the real battle came when Morgan arrived at the crease.

The duo hammered a 58-ball 107 for the fourth wicket and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. But it was too much to do for England and they eventually succumbed by 15 runs. So! It is three out of three for England against the Windies in WT20s when it comes to losing.

Morgan finished on a stunning 71 from 36 balls while for the Windies, an expensive Rampaul was ironically the highest wicket-taker for West Indies with 2 scalps. The scorecard shows it to be a close catch but guess West Indies were always comfortable. Stay tuned for the presentation.English skipper Stuart Broad admits that losing two wickets early had forced them to regroup. But praises Eoin Morgan for his wonderful knock. Also says that it is disappointing to lose tonight but feels that there are some positives to look at. Feels that the surface played pretty well and credits his bowlers for stopping the boundaries in the middle overs and coming back well towards the end. Also adds that West Indies got a below par score tonight, so not being able to chase that is even more disappointing!
Victorious West Indian captain Darren Sammy is very happy with the win and says that Ravi Rampaul's opening burst set it up. Admits that his side was a bit nervous as the pitch was good but at the same time, credits his bowlers for pulling it off. On the amount of spinners being used, he says that the bowling combination depends on the pitch. Also has a word of praise for Charles who started slowly but ended up scoring aggressively.

JOHNSON CHARLES HAS BEEN NAMED THE MAN OF THE MATCH. Is very happy to have done well tonight. Feels that the pitch was similar to the ones in England, where the bowlers hit the deck hard. Says that the batsmen need to work hard to get their runs on this pitch.

Okay! End of a fine opening day of the Super Eights. After a thrilling Super Over in the SL-NZ game, the Eng-WI contest threatened to be a one-sided affair but we had a decent game in the end. Tomorrow sees the clash between Pakistan and South Africa at 1000 GMT (1530 IST) while Australia meet India at 1400 GMT (1930 IST).

Openers provide base for West Indies

An opening partnership of 103 in 11 overs provided the West Indies with the foundations for a challenging total in their Super Eights match against England in Pallekele. Half-centuries for Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles gave West Indies the perfect start and, though they experienced a couple of hiccups towards the end, a total of 179 for 5 will take some getting, even on a good batting pitch.

If England are to overhaul their target, they will have to do so against an attack that includes several spin options. Not only did West Indies, with a view to England's struggles against spin bowling, select the legspin of Samuel Badree in place of the pace of Fidel Edwards, but they also have the 'mystery' spin of Sunil Narine and the part-time offbreaks of Marlon Samuels and Gayle to utilise.

On the same pitch that was used for the game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand earlier in the day the ball was already turning a surprising amount, so England's chase is likely to prove a testing proposition. England have never chased more than 173 to win a T20I.

England had made no secret of their desire to take early wickets in this game but, having lost the toss, they soon found themselves chasing the ball all over the ground. If the class and power of Gayle was hardly surprising, the increasingly fluency of Charles was less expected. But, after an uncertain start, the 23-year-old from St Lucia, justified his place in the side with his maiden international half-century and the highest score he has made in any form of professional cricket.

While Steven Finn, bowling with sharp pace, produced a tight first over with Charles' only boundary coming when he top-edged an attempted pull over slip, Gayle was soon into his stride. Having patted back his first two deliveries from Jade Dernbach, he then crashed three fours from the rest of the over: two pulls and a fierce drive.

Gayle dealt with the pace of Finn comfortably, giving himself room to cut a short ball over point, and greeted the introduction of Stuart Broad, also bowling at a sharp pace and with good control, with a thick-edged four over third man and then a flick over midwicket. After the six Powerplay overs, West Indies were 47 without loss.

But it was Samit Patel's introduction into the attack in the eighth over that marked a sharp acceleration from West Indies. Patel's third delivery, something of a long-hop, was pulled over mid-on, the fifth was slog-swept over square leg and the final delivery, a quicker ball, was driven over mid-on as Gayle thrashed three sixes from the over.

Johnson followed suit in the following over from Graeme Swann. Having seized on to a poor ball down the leg side with a sweep for four, he followed it with two sixes over the long-on boundary to complete a period of five sixes in 10 balls for West Indies.

Gayle reached his 50 in just 29 deliveries and brought up the 100 stand from 63 balls with another six driven over extra cover. So when Finn, running in from long-off, put down a simple chance offered by Charles on 39 off Swann, it seemed there would be no respite for England. But it turned out to be a moment of fortune for England. The next delivery, Gayle mistimed a thump over long-on and, this time, Finn made no mistake with the catch.

Luke Wright was introduced into the attack in the 12th over, but by now Charles was in fine form. Having stepped back to crash one four through extra cover, he then smacked another back over Wright's head. Charles reached his half-century from 36 balls.

Broad clawed back a little control with a wicket maiden in the 14th over when he had Samuels taken at point as he attempted to slash over the off side, but Charles was back on strike for the next over and skipped down the wicket to drive Patel for another six.

Kieron Pollard, slogging to point, did not last long, but Charles, by now unrecognisable from the hesitant batsman that had started the innings, took Finn for successive boundaries on either side of the wicket and then clipped Dernbach for one four before driving him for another over long-off. Clearly showing the effects of weariness, however, he then drove a full toss to mid-on to depart 16 short of a century.

The wicket in the 18th over slowed West Indies' progress and with Broad producing a fine penultimate over - he bowled Darren Sammy with a slower ball delivered out of the back of his hand and only conceded 10 due to some fortuitous slices from Andre Russell - England might have felt they were back in the match.

But with Dernbach conceding 15, including three boundaries, from the last over, West Indies reached the halfway stage of the game with the momentum and a score perhaps 15 over par.

ICC World T20 2012: Australia wary of spin stocked India ahead of crucial tie

Colombo: Ahead of Australia`s first Super Eight clash against India, batsman Michael Hussey on Wednesday said the team is chalking out an appropriate strategy to cope with the variety of spinners on offer by the 2007 World Twenty20 Champions.

India advanced into the super eight`s after thrashing reigning Twenty20 World Champions England in their last group match.

Chasing 171 for victory, England crumbled to 80 all out, their lowest Twenty20 total condemning the defending champions to their heaviest loss in the shortest form of the game.

The Australian team toiled hard under the sun during an extensive net session.

Speaking to mediapersons in Colombo, Hussey said the Indians had a great mix of conventional and part-time spinners that could trouble the Australian unit.

"They (India) have got quality players all the way down, so we are going to have to adapt pretty quickly. I do suspect they will bowl a fair bit of spin to us, if it`s not the front line spinners then maybe the part-timers can have a few overs as well. Guys like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma can bowl some off-spinners as well, even (Virender) Sehwag can bowl. So they have got a lot of options there they can bring in and get an over out of someone here or there. We are going to have to adapt very quickly to whoever they bring on and it`s going to be a tough challenge," said Hussey.

India`s comprehensive drubbing of England was anchored by comeback man, Harbhajan Singh, who bagged the man-of-the-match award for his figures of four for 12.

Hussey, also known as Mr. Cricket, was all praise for Harbhajan Singh, but added that the Australian team needed to cope better than England to fare well against him.

“He is a class act. He has been a class act for a long period of time so he is someone we have got to respect. But this is Twenty20 and you have got to be aggressive as well and try and put him under pressure. He did a fantastic job the other night but hopefully we can play a little bit better than the English team,” Hussey added.

India is placed with Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in their super eight group. The top two teams would qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.

India under Dhoni won the inaugural edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, the beginning of a performance crest that saw the ``Men in Blue`` rise to the top of the game in Tests, with the crowning glory in 2011 when they won the 50-over World Cup to complete their dominance of the game.

ICC World T20: Dhoni spoilt for choices ahead of Aussie clash

With less than forty-eight hours to go for the mega clash against Australia, it seems Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is in a dilemma of being spoilt for choices.

He said "one big batsman might have to sit out" in the Super Eights match against Australia on Friday and went on to say that "it will be one of the toughest decisions of his career to choose between Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh".

"We would most likely go in with five bowlers but I still don't know what will be the combination. It will be a fresh wicket and we have to take into consideration how it will be before the start of the match," Dhoni told reporters at his pre-match media interaction.

On the other hand, the kangaroos look comfortable and a well settled unit. But come Friday, all the calculations, strategies and all plans will take a back seat when the two cricketing powerhouses lock horns.

Dhoni also stressed the importance of ground fielding as it could make the all mportant difference.

When asked about Virender Sehwag, who sat out in the match against England, Dhoni said, "situational calls will be taken, and players are ready".

Dhoni also stated that he was confused as to how the wickets will be prepared for the uphill `Oz battle`.

Speaking to reporters at Colombo, Dhoni stated, "it is good to have a blend of experience and youth, and that it is the responsibility of seniors to guide the youngsters."

When asked whether he follows what the press has been circulating about India`s Cup chances, boy next door Dhoni got candid, saying he did not have access to internet, television and mobile. "I am detached from the world."