Aussies support Tigers today
Before the tournament began, today's night match between India and Australia may have been seen as a dress rehearsal for the final as India are always strong in subcontinental conditions and Australia were the form team heading into the ICC World Twenty20.
The forecast turned out to be only half true so far, as India have won all of their three matches while Australia have lost both their games, against Pakistan and West Indies.
If Pakistan beat Bangladesh in the afternoon game, Australia will be on their way home because that would mean Pakistan will have two wins and their last game against West Indies (who with two wins out of three) will see one finishing with three victories or two wins and a tie while Australia can hope for a maximum of two wins.
Against India the Aussies will be up against arguably the best spin attack of the tournament and coach Darren Lehmann banked on their recent experience of playing ODIs against India in India.
"We're lucky enough that we've played some decent one-day cricket against India, in India, not too long ago in October," Lehmann said after their defeat to West Indies on Friday. "So we know them very well, and they know us very well. It's going to be a great challenge for our batters and bowlers to put a complete performance together. If we do that we can compete with anyone in the world.
"Not a weakness, because certainly spinners didn't get us out -- we got ourselves out today [Friday]. So we've certainly got some work to do in that area. The wickets certainly haven't spun as much as we thought, so that's no excuse for our batsmen," he said.
An important part of India's attack, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, said that though Australia seem down and out they do pose a threat on the day. "Everybody is playing to their strengths and not really prepared to test the other waters," said Ashwin when asked about Australia's pace-heavy attack in spinning conditions. "They're a side any team will be threatened by. They have some quality batters and really quick bowlers."
India have won the toss in all three games, all of them night matches, and chose to bowl first with pleasing results. "I wouldn't want to swim a tsunami," said Ashwin when asked if they would want to challenge themselves by batting first. "I wouldn't want to challenge conditions. If we win the toss, we'll again bowl first if that is what is required. You'll be fighting against a wall if you're fighting against conditions."
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