World Cup 2015 SF 2 India vs Australia preview; Its Gold vs Blue for the Finals berth

World Cup 2015 SF 2 India vs Australia preview; Its Gold vs Blue for the Finals berth:

Date: 26 March 2015    Time: 0900 IST
Venue: Sydney

The second semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is a mouth-watering clash between 2 of the best teams in the World today, India and Australia. One is a multiple time champion and other is defending the title they won in 2011. Both of them have a terrific batting line-up and in-form bowling units. Read on further for a preview of the semi-final match between Australia and India.

India

India topped the Group B, winning all of their matches and defeated Bangladesh convincingly in the quarter-finals to enter the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. They will face Australia who defeated Pakistan in an exciting match at Adelaide on Friday, in the semifinals.

Bowling wise India is the only side in the competition to have dismissed the opposition on all seven occasions. India’s pace attack comprising of Mohd. Shami, the run blocking Mohit Sharma and speed demon Umesh Yadav, has shown tremendous improvement after a dismal show in the tri-series preceding the World Cup. That will be on the minds of Indians, as they faced Australia multiple times in that tri-series and failed to win a single match.

Also Australia are a completely different matter as supposed to Bangladesh. They have the bowling power to attack the Indian batting line-up, hence India should be prepared to leave some balls early on in order to make a decent enough score that they can defend if they bats first. Or bowl Australia out for a score anywhere near 230-250 even 270, which is chase-able in Sydney, but once the score goes beyond 300, either of the team chasing will have to make a new record to successfully chase it down.

Also, purely in terms of the comprehensiveness of victories, India is currently the best side in the tournament. India’s spinners R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have also contributed immensely in keeping the runs low in the crucial middle overs between the power plays. The combo of Ashwin, Mohit and Shami have ensured that India don’t leak many runs in that crucial period of play and also control the innings in the last 15 overs or so. But they have Glenn Maxwell to deal with against whom Ashwin has been totally ineffective as Maxwell has reverse swept him on multiple occasions, denting his confidence.

But the Australian batting seemed to be rattled by the pace and bounce shown by Wahab Riaz the other day and they also exposed the weakness of this batting lineup against the short balls bowled at high pace. That thing can be entrusted to Umesh Yadav and Mohd. Shami who have been in brilliant form.

Batting wise India have to take care of the Australian pace attack in Starc, Johnson and Hazlewood.  Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni are looking good with the bat. And Rohit Sharma’s century also indicates he has his confidence back, which is a good news for Dhoni. The difference in this match will be that Australia are missing a quality spinner in their ranks to take advantage of the Sydney pitch which showed that it was helping spinners. The fielding has been top class by the Indians. In short, everything is going right for them at the moment.

Road to semi-finals

India ( Won 7, Lost 0, Tie 0)

1. Beat Pakistan by 76 runs

2. Beat South Africa by 130 runs

3. Beat United Arab Emirates by 9 wickets

4. Beat West Indies by 4 wickets

5. Beat Ireland by 8 wickets

6. Beat Zimbabwe by 6 wickets

7. QF – Beat Bangladesh by 109 runs

Australia

Australia beat Pakistan in convincing manner on paper, but the reality is that if Wahab Riaz had got a little more support from his fellow bowlers and fielders, things could have ended very differently for Australia. But they won at the end of the day and now face India in semi-finals, what we can easily call, the clash of titans.

Australia is hampered by the form of Aaron Finch, who after making a century in against England has completely gone out of form, falling early even in matches even against the minnows. Also Wahab Riaz has exposed Australia’s weakness against pace and bounce and India has the fire power to exploit that further. MS Dhoni is a smart man to notice all this and Australia will expect some leather near their nose when they bat against Shami, Yadav and Mohit.

Australian batting is in best of the possible forms with Glenn Maxwell and David Warner scoring centuries and Steven Smith, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin have played the supporting roles to the hilt. Another problem for them is that they have not faced quality spinners in any of the matches and India has two of them in Ashwin and Jadeja with Suresh Raina for backup, with conditions assisting them as well, it will be quite a contest. How Smith, Warner and co. deals with them is another challenge for Australia.

Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have bowled with speed, swing and intensity that is hard to match by any other teams and India knows and will try to be at their very best to face the trio of Johnson, Starc and Hazlewood without conceding much damage. It would be interesting to see if Australia plays Doherty in order to take advantage of the Sydney pitch which has assisted the spinners or goes with 4 quick’s and Maxwell for spin with Smith and Clarke as backup.

Anyhow, the semi-final is going to be a cracker of a match with both teams in forms of their lives and with the chance to play in the finals for the World Cup 2015 at stake.

Road to semi-finals

Australia ( Won 5, Lost 1, Tie 1)

1. Beat England by 111 runs

2. Match Abandoned

3. Lost to New Zealand by 1 wicket

4. Beat Afghanistan by 275 runs

5. Beat Sri Lanka by 64 runs

6. Beat Scotland by 7 wickets

7. QF – Beat Pakistan by 6 wickets

Possible Playing XI:

India: MS Dhoni (C/WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma

Australia:  Aaron Finch, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke(C), Glen Maxwell, Brad Haddin (WK), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner