Gros Islet (St Lucia), June 23 (IANS): A crestfallen Australia will fight to stay alive in the race for the semi-finals of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup when they take on a high-flying India in an all-important Super Eight clash at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium on Monday.

The turnaround time for Mitchell Marsh-led Australia is short – precisely 36 hours – after going down to a spirited Afghanistan by 21 runs in St Vincent. A high-flying India, meanwhile, arrive after maintaining their unbeaten run with a 50-run win over Bangladesh in Antigua.

The Rohit Sharma-led side need just a win to enter the semi-finals and create more difficulties in the path of Australia’s quest to enter the last four stage. There is little to worry from an Indian perspective, with batting, bowling and fielding departments in top form.

Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya were at their risk-taking and attacking selves against Bangladesh, which is complete contrast from the safety first approach India would have in T20Is batting. Though Suryakumar Yadav suffered a rare blip, he can be depended upon to bail India out of trouble – which he did against USA and Afghanistan.

Shivam Dube took time to come good, but his 34 against Bangladesh would have given plenty of assurance to Indian team think-tank, who would want for better shot selection from the batters in their quest to play attacking cricket. What has also left the side elated is vice-captain Pandya’s returns as an all-rounder – contributing with bat and taking wickets with the ball.

Kuldeep Yadav has seamlessly fitted well in India’s combination in West Indies, picking five wickets in two Super Eights games and he would be the side’s leader in taking wickets in middle overs alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. With Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh in strong form, India have all the tools in their arsenal to make things tougher for Australia.

The Mitchell Marsh-led side come into this game with their backs firmly against the ball, after going down by 21 runs to a driven Afghanistan side, who were always bound to have slower conditions at St Vincent to their liking. Moreover, their fielding performance left a lot to be desired - dropping five catches and tons of uncharacteristic errors on ground.

Left-arm fast-bowler Mitchell Starc has a very strong chance to return to the playing eleven for the important clash against India after being left out for left-arm spin all-rounder Ashton Agar in the defeat to Afghanistan.

Starc’s new-ball wicket-taking skills were badly missed as Afghanistan had a 118-run opening stand. Pat Cummins shined with another hat-trick, while Glenn Maxwell waged a lone battle with his 59, which Australia would take as positives in a forgettable game.

But Australia would be aware that each one of their members in the playing eleven must put their best foot forward, and look to upstage India under a sunny venue, which indicates for pitch to slow down in second innings, as they enter a now-or-never stage in their quest to be the team to hold all major trophies in men’s international cricket at the same time.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), David Warner and Adam Zampa.

Match Referee: Jeff Crowe

On-field Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and Richard Illingworth

TV Umpire: Michael Gough

Fourth Umpire: Kumar Dharmasena

Match starts at 8pm IST on Star Sports (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (Mobile)