Daijiworld Media Network 

Mohali, Mar 27: Let's dig straight into this one now. It's a blockbuster match in store in Mohali. Two teams, which have not really been at their best - more India than Australia - arrive for this one trying to filter out all the media circus. All the pressure. All the expectations - again, more India than Australia. MS Dhoni's India were picked out as favourites ahead of the tournament. By everyone. Pundits, fans, pseudo fans. All captains of other teams did a press-conference parade about how India have the ideal team. But so far, the home team's performance has been greatly underwhelming, and the fact that they are STILL IN THIS is a testament to their grit and ability to find a way out of a hole.

Australia have been on the upward curve ever since they were denied the Trans-Tasman bragging rights. After Mumbai, if ever they wanted to play India somewhere, it would have been Mohali. The pitch is much truer and conducive for strokeplay. There is turn. But there isn't monstrous turn. And all the pressure is supposedly on the home team (although, I don't agree with that theory one bit). It will be interesting to see what combination they field. Whether they shuffle their batting order once more, or do they stick with it after a good performance against Pakistan. While India have been unchanged throughout, the Kangaroos have used 14 of their 15 players with Tye being the only one without a game.

Australia have won the toss and have opted to bat.

Smith: 'We are going to have a bat. Looks a good wicket. Looks dry underneath though and may slow up later, I'm not really sure. So we'll look to put up a score. We haven't played spin well in the middle overs. But guys have got certain plans and we'll stick to them. It's nice to keep improving on the way through the tournament. Same team. I'm sure the boys will be fine [when asked about the pressure of the crowd], they have played in this situation before.'

Dhoni: 'We were looking to bat first also. It may slow down, the pitch. I am not saying that it will definitely slow down but it may. It looks like a surface that the batsmen will love. Depends on how much rolling has been done. Our bowlers have done the job for us. Our fielding has been good too except the last game. Overall, the bowlers have done a good job. Yes, our batting lineup looks stronger than the bowling lineup, but I feel it is quite balanced. I think so [when asked if they need to be at their best today], every run counts and every catch counts. I still think we are just 60% with the batting.'

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Peter Nevill(w), Adam Zampa, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Josh Hazlewood

Preview by Ganesh Chandrasekaran

It has boiled down to a straight knockout game between two traditional powerhouses of the game. Hosts India have found the going tougher in the ICC World T20 than in the games prior to it. A hard-fought win against Bangladesh must put them in a confident mood but Australia aren't too far behind. They have already won a game, convincingly against Pakistan, on the same ground just a night ago. So they must be quite buoyant as well.

Neither team's journey to this stage has been a fluent one. Australia have wrestled with their batting order and finding the right men for the right spots had been a big concern. It had affected their rotation of strike in the middle overs. But that was rectified thanks to Steven Smith in their last game. That Australia managed to put on their best batting performance automatically made their batting order look more potent as well. They, much like India, possess an array of match-winners with the bat. But it also matters a lot in which position they play in and the one that featured against Pakistan might be the one they stick with for the game against India as well.

MS Dhoni's men have not struggled with their eleven as much as they fought for rhythm. They were on a roll prior to the World T20 but the loss against New Zealand in the first game did rattle them. Two out of the three men who had played key roles before the tournament have failed to find their touch so far. So a lot rests upon Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, apart from Virat Kohli to shore up the batting unit. It hasn't helped their cause that they have played on turning or slow pitches so far in each of their games.

So far, the pitches at Mohali, have been on the slower side but definitely truer and has made batting a look easy. It is a 'typical T20 pitch' according to popular definition. One in which the batsmen can trust blind swings to carry over the ropes. However it remains to be seen if the pitch used tomorrow will play similar. The teams, mind you, will be playing on a pitch that is 40 overs old even before the game starts (the India-West Indies women's game will be played on the same pitch). So there is every chance that it might break up as the game progresses.

Team News:

India

There is unlikely to be a change to their playing eleven. They will be wary of what Australia brings to the table. The square boundaries at Mohali are significantly bigger than the ones that they've played on so far. So the batsmen will be making changes accordingly. A day before the game, Shikhar Dhawan was facing up to high full tosses in a bid to counter the bouncers expected from Australia's pacers. Similarly, the bigger boundaries will bring the spinners into play a lot more as well.

Australia

They too are unlikely to fiddle with a winning combination unless they see spin demons in the pitch. The move to send Shane Watson down the order worked quite splendidly for them and they are likely to persist with the same batting order as well. But that will be subject to change if the start is a good one. They have the advantage of a flexible batting order but so far they've been left searching for a settled one. There's a chance that this could be Shane Watson's last game in Australian colours so the team but the team will be hoping that he is able to stay on for two more games.