Daijiworld Media Network

Dhaka, Mar 30: First things first! Bangladesh's loss to Pakistan in the first game means, Australia cannot make it to the last four. They have only themselves to blame. Two narrow losses, first at the hands of Pakistan and then a heart-breaking loss against world champions West Indies, puts them at the bottom of the table with 0 points on the board and they had to sit and wait for other results in their favour to escape above others to the next stage in the T20 Cup. Unfortunately, Bangladesh couldn't help them and today's clash against India will be their final appearance in this edition of the multi-nation event.

One thing is for sure, the Aussies are never known to give up at any stage and we can expect them to give a tough fight to MS Dhoni's men. India on the other hand, have had a very smooth journey having won all three games. However, as Dhoni himself admitted, the batting unit has not been tested so far, and he would love his batters to get a hit today before the all imporant semi-finals.

Australia have won the toss and have opted to field.

Dhoni: 'As the tournament progresses, the wickets will slow down even more. Today the dew is not much but it's nothing compared to Chittagong. Anyway we wanted to bat first today. Let's not look at a great total, just look to bat well and analyse later. We have a couple of changes. Rahane replaces Shikhar and Shami makes way for Mohit.'

Bailey: 'It seems that the ball is coming on to the bat in the night. The Indians are one of the favourites for the title. We need to be at our best. We are playing White in place of Faulkner.'

Teams

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey(c), Brad Hodge, Cameron White, Brad Haddin(w), Mitchell Starc, Doug Bollinger, James Muirhead

Match Preview

India

On a roll after completing a hat-trick of victories, title contenders India would look to continue with their winning ways in the ongoing ICC World T20 when they meet a struggling Australian team in their last group league encounter. Having registered comprehensive wins against Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh in three successive matches to qualify for the semi-finals, the confidence of the team is at an all-time high as they face George Bailey's Australia which has not done justice to their immense potential.

For India, the key has been their spinners, who have done a tremendous job. While left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has been a bit on the expensive side despite taking wickets, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and leg-spinner Amit Mishra have been pictures of consistency so far in the tournament. Ashwin should be lauded for the manner in which he has bowled in the Powerplay overs often seizing the initiative for his team while Mishra has been fantastic for India at the back end with his clever variations. Dhoni's captaincy in the tournament is like a breath of fresh air for the manner in which he has handled his bowling attack knowing its strengths and limitations. the pacers haven't been at the top of their game, although Bhuvneshwar Kumar impressed against the WIndies and Dhoni will hope for a similar performance.

India's batting line-up too has not been far behind as they complemented the bowlers quite well. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, with two half-centuries each have scored 147 and 142 respectively. Such has been their grip on the situation that the next highest scorer in the team is Suresh Raina with 36 runs, who did not even get a chance to have a hit in the last game and scored the winning runs in the match prior to that. Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh's failure has been overshadowed by Rohit and Virat's performance. Skipper Dhoni got some batting time yesterday and would now like that the whole batting line-up is tested by the likes of Doug Bollinger, Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner.

Australia

With back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and West Indies, the Australian team are all but out of the competition with a faint mathematical possibility that has kept them afloat and interested. But for that to happen, George Bailey and his team first need to beat India by a comprehensive margin which looks a distant reality considering the current form of the two teams. While India's campaign has gone from strength to strength with a solid all-round show in all the matches, Australia have struggled to maintain the momentum during the key stages of the game which is all the more important in a short format like the Twenty20.

Among the batsmen, only Glenn Maxwell has shown his true potential with scores of 73 and 45 in the two matches. Brad Hodge has also been effective but the failure of David Warner and Shane Watson in successive matches, has hurt their campaign a lot. They have however been known to fight back from really adverse situations and with some tremendous experience and ability in the side, the team can be backed to storm back to their best. Warner, Watson and Bailey's failure to contribute with the bat has put a lot of onus on the other in-form batsmen, but the trio are quality players and will only need a decent outing smash their way back to top form.

Australia's death bowling has been a huge problem too and they will be eager for Mitchell Starc and Co. to hit the straps in the do-or-die encounter. Brad Hogg and James Muirhead are the specialist spinners in the side and they will need to be at the top of their game to restrict an Indian side that look in devastating touch.