Ahmedabad, March 24: The second quarter-final of the 2011 ICC World Cup is to be played between India and Australia in a short while from now. India are heading into this game with a win against the West Indies in their final group outing. Australia, on the other hand, had their dream run of 34 consecutive wins at the World Cup broken when they lost by four wickets to Pakistan in their final group outing.
Speaking on the wicket Sourav Ganguly said, “It looks pretty dry on one side of the wicket and it could start turning as the game goes on. There will not be a lot of carry for the faster bowlers. There will be lot of spin from the Pavilion end, and lot of pace from the other end. The side which wins the toss should bat first and look to field in the relatively cooler evening.”
Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and opted to bat first. Australia have brought in David Hussey in place of Steve Smith to strengthen their batting order for this game. Virender Sehwag returns to the Indian squad having recovered from the allergic reaction in his knee. Yusuf Pathan goes out of the playing eleven.
Captain speak
Ricky Ponting (Australia):
On what is a good score: “We’ll see how the wicket plays. If you look at the history, 250 is a good score, but we will assess as we go on.”
MS Dhoni (India):
On the pressure of playing in a big quarter-final game: “Only if you think of it as pressure. Players should instead consider that they are worthy to be part of the side”
Playing XIs
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R Ashwin and Munaf Patel
Australia: Ricky Ponting (c), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Michael Clarke, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krezja, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait
