Sunday night’s Australia–India World T20 match at Mohali is called the unofficial World T20 quarter final.
The victor will qualify for the semi-final in Group 2 as Bangladesh and Pakistan have no chance and New Zealand is already in.
So who will win the decider on Sunday night, or rather for us Aussies, on Easter Monday morning?
My prediction is that it will be close but India will win. Why? Because it is played in India and they have spinners to exploit the conditions. And take my word, the surface will be a spinners’ paradise.
Australian selectors will regret dropping their ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon. Full praise to leg-spinner and googly bowler Adam Zampa – who will be 24 next week – for his effective spell of 2 for 32 against Pakistan on Friday.
But he will provide no threat to Indian batsmen, especially openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and the in-form batsman Virat Kohli who keeps his best against arch-rival Australia.
Off-spinner Ravi Ashwin will open the attack and cause problems for the Aussie top order. Another Ravi and another spinner, Jadeja, could be a handful as a tall hitter and an acrobatic fielder.
Below are reasons for my bold prediction.
Even in Australia this January, India had whitewashed Australia 3-0 in T20 Internationals.
India is ranked no. 1 in T20 Internationals, Australia is ranked no. 4.
India has won World T20 title once and were runners up to Sri Lanka last time (2014), Australia has still to win one.
Most importantly, the pitch is in India where Australia’s record is poor.
Also India will be confident after winning the T20 Asia Cup earlier this month in Bangladesh.
Now to the current World T20.
Both Australia and India have won two of their three matches and both have lost to New Zealand. However, Australia’s net run rate (+ 0.440) is much superior to India’s (- 0.546).
Also India was lucky beating a panicky Bangladesh team who lost their nerve and three wickets in the last three balls.
Australia must be feeling very confident after defeating Pakistan on Friday with aggressive unbeaten innings by skipper Steven Smith and Shane Watson and a match-winning spell of 5 for 27 by left-arm medium-pacer James Faulkner.
These are best figures for an Australian in T20 Internationals. Sri Lanka’s BAW Mendis is the only bowler to capture 6 wickets in a World T20 match. He had captured 6 for 8 against Zimbabwe at Hambantota in the 2012 World T20.
Anything can and does happen in T20 cricket.
But a capacity crowd in Mohali will see spectacular hitting by David Warner, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Glenn Maxwell, Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni – if the predicted dustbowl of a pitch allows.
It seems franchise cricket has forgotten about the great battle between bat and ball. In fact, this season in the IPL there is no battle at all.
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