Powerhouses collide as India take on Australia in a battle for semifinal berth

As the semifinals loom large around the corner, Team India will be hoping to go all guns blazing to finish on a high. With Australia losing to Afghanistan, the points table has opened up drastically in Group 1. However, India with a superlative NRR holds the upper hand.

It goes without saying that the Aussies would be baring themselves out to keep themselves alive in the contest while India will be seeking redemption for their defeat in the 2023 World Cup final that saw the Indian juggernaut come to a screeching halt at the grandest stages of all.

With the kind of firepower that these two teams come into the game with, it is going to be a full-blown blockbuster that can make the world come to a standstill. Despite the absence of extravagant numbers, the batting unit of India has come together to contribute significantly while their bowlers have been on a roll. For Australia, the bowlers have shown that they are a tough breed to tame but their batters have been plagued by inconsistency.

Venue Watch:

The surface at St. Lucia has offered a balance between the bat and ball. With an average score of 145, the batters will have to apply themselves smartly instead of going all guns blazing to keep the wheels in motion. For the bowlers though, they will have to maintain their discipline for anything off can be swatted away.

Head to Head:

Matches played: 31

India: 19

Australia: 11

Match Details:

Match – India vs Australia

Venue: Beausejour Stadium, St. Lucia

Date: 24th April, 2024

Time: 8:00 PM

World Cup face-offs:

Matches played: 5

India: 3

Australia: 2

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj

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