India will be out to derail Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign when they take on their shocked and under-pressure opponents in their final Super 8 game in Gros Islet (Saint Lucia) on Monday (June 24). (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
A third straight win for India will not only make them the group toppers and send them to the semifinals, it will also substantially threaten Australia’s chances of progressing through to the semi-finals following the unexpected loss to Afghanistan in Saint Vincent ꦛon Saturday night💟.
Following the reverse against Afghanistan, Australia don’t have the destiny in their own hands and will be 💜keenly tracking Rashid Khan’s team's final game against Bangladesh on Monday night.
India, who have had to endure heartbreaking defeats at the hands of Australia in major ICC 🌱events, would like to see a pre-mature exit of their strong rivals.
On fine-tuning their game ahead of the kn🌱ockouts, India don’t need to do much having ticked all boxes in their back-to-back wins against Afghanistan and Ba🧸ngladesh.
Both Rohit and Virat Kohli p💃layed innings of substance against Afghanistan, while Shivam Dube, who had not been able to perform his role, answered his critics withꦇ a crucial knock.
Number three Rishabh Pant 🙈has been getting dismissed off reverse hit often and it is something he would like to correct.
The biggest positive for India in this tournament has ﷽been the all-round effort of Hardik Pandya, who has now come to the party with the bat to c𓂃omplement his incisive spells.
Kuldeep Yadav has taken little time to come up with match-wining contributions and he wouꦆld be relied on for wickets in the middle overs.
With the team playing th🔯ree Super 8 games with as many days of travel in between, the management will be tempted to rotate players but is꧑ unlikely to do so.
India, whꦜo arrived in Saint Lucia on Saturday night, chose not to train ahead of the Australia game considering꧒ the hectic travel involved.
It will only be the second day game at the Darren Saꦚmmy Cricket Stadium. The day nighters have produced high-scores here but in the previous g༺ame at the venue, England were not able to chase 164 in a day game against South Africa.
It has been the best bat🔯ting strip of the competition but sun beating down on the pitch through the day is likely to aid the slower bowlers.
Australia, on the other hand, have plenty to worry about going into the game. It was a flop batting show against Afghanist🍒an and unusually Mitchell Marsh’s team had a forgettable night in the field as well.
Having logged only 88 runs in six games at a strike rate of🌞 111, Marsh needs to lead from the front against India.
With the b✅all, offie Glenn Maxwell needs to check his econom⭕y rate of 8.58 runs per over.
In terms of match ups, it will b♍e interesting to see how Kohli fares against leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who has had the better of the Indian superstar on mulꩵtiple occasions.
Australia played the extra ༒spinner in Ashton Agar instead of Mi🌊tchell Starc against Afghanistan but that could change against India.
“It was an off-𝐆night for us in the field, and we own that. We'll be back next game. It wasn't an easy wicket but both teams played on this surface. (India next...) First and foremost it becomes clear for us. We need to win and no better team to do it against (India),” said the skipper in a very m🧸atter of fact way after the Afghanistan game.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, San﷽ju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshde🎃ep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj.
Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capta🌳in), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoi𝄹nis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis.
