India-Australia Clash in the World Cup Knockout Round

Cricket World Cup 2011 is reaching its finishing point and India finds itself in the knockout stages as it is all set to face Australia in the second quarter final on Thursday. There would not be any difference in opinion that the match between India and Aussies would be a tough one for both teams. When Australia is the reigning world champion with three consecutive titles, India is a force to reckon with, particularly in the sub continent conditions.

Both India and Australia were once defeated in the league stage – India was defeated by South Africa and Australia was defeated by Pakistan. In one of the most intriguing cricket matches, South Africa defeated India by 3 wickets with 2 balls remaining. At the same time Pakistan was able to defeat Australia in the league match there by breaking the 34 match winning streak of the Aussies in the world cups (they were last defeated by Pakistan itself in one of the league matches in the 1999 world cup). So it is sure that both these teams would not leave any stone unturned for winning the match. Moreover, whoever loses the match would be out of the tournament.

There is no doubt that India should tighten up their bowling if it has to put a formidable challenge to the Australians. It is true that the batting unit of the Aussies is not as strong as in the earlier three occasions when they had heavy weights like the Waugh brothers, Gilchrist, Hayden and the likes. But still the Aussies can back a punch with their batting with batsmen like Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Watson and Haddin. India’s biggest problem with its bowling is that only Zaheer Khan is in good form. Ace bowler Harbhajan Singh is not at his best and bowlers like Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth and Ashish Nehra have been wavered in their bowling. At the same time the inclusion of R. Ashwin has brought some much needed quality to the Indian bowling. It is to be seen whether Dhoni would include another bowler in the place of Yusuf Pathan in the final eleven against Australia. An attacking option in Chawla or Sreesanth is surely a choice. The Aussies were not finding it easy against Chawla in the warm-up match and Sreesanth has always been one of Australia’s arch foes. Anyways Yusuf Pathan hasn’t been in good form throughout the series and it is almost sure that the Aussie bowlers will try to bounce him out because of his apparent inability to play the short pitched deliveries. It is to be seen how he would play them if he is included in the final eleven. Munaf Patel is not a incisive bowler particularly when bowling in the death overs. So it wouldn’t be a bad thing to include the attacking option of the leggie, Chawla in Munaf’s place. It is almost sure that the track at Motera, Ahmedabad would be a slow one that would help the spinners. Therefore it would be a good option to include three frontline spinners in Harbhajan, Chawla and Ashwin. If by any chance Chawla fails to perform we could always turn to Yuvraj for his slow left arm spin.

Indian batting is not in a good shape either. There were many opinions expressed stating that India has got the best batting line-up among all teams in this world cup. But in the matches against South Africa and West Indies, the flaws in the Indian batting line-up came to the fore. Still much of the Indian batting depends on the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Playing in probably his last world cup Tendulkar would be looking to make a large impact in the match against his most favourite rival, Australia. Much expectation also rests on the swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag and his fiery batting prowess. It would surely be an exciting contest between bat and ball when the likes of Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj come against Lee, Johnson and Tait. Dhoni has to be at his proactive best if India has to win Thursday’s match and it has to be seen with what combination he will play this very important match. It would be good for India if MS Dhoni wins the toss and elects to bat first because if India is batting second a score of even 240 would be hard to chase against the Aussies. In such a case it would also be difficult for the Aussies to bat second in a slow turning track, which is expected at Motera.

The match between India and Australia is going to be the last world cup match for either Sachin Tendulkar or Ricky Ponting, two of the game’s greatest batsmen. Therefore both will be quite keen to make their presence felt in this critical showdown. While one man is known for his impeccable integrity, the other is known for the lack of it. Ponting has the dubious distinction of being a dishonest captain whose on-field and off-field actions have often come under criticisms not any less in this world cup.

Anyways let us keep our fingers crossed for the ultimate showdown between two top teams in world cricket. In all probability it is going to be an interesting match with a nail biting finish. Let the best team win.