By Sunil Gavaskar
India begin their quest to get into the semi finals of the World Twenty20 by playing one of their strongest rivals, Australia. They had a similarly tough Super Eights group back in 2007 when they went on to win the trophy and if they begin well by beating the Aussies, then they could well repeat that feat.
This is the one event that the Australians have struggled to master and not for lack of trying. There is not a single game where the Aussies have not given their best, but somehow they have not been able to crack this format.
The Big Bash, which was the Australian answer to the IPL, has certainly given them more experience and a lot of their players play in the IPL, too, so they know the conditions in the sub continent.
Their determination to win makes them dangerous opponents and any team that take them lightly do so at their own peril.
T20 cricket is supposed to be a young man’s game, but the Australians have a few players on the wrong side of the 30s who are still doing the job for them.
The Australians are known to pick their team first and then name a skipper from that squad, but here they have George Bailey as the captain, who many Australians feel is not even a definite pick in their eleven.
Be that as it may, there are other players that India need to worry about, mainly the openers, David Warner and Shane Watson. They can bludgeon any attack and get the team off to a flying start.
It would be interesting to see if Dhoni opens the attack with a spinner, for both Warner and Watson like pace, especially at the start of their innings.
The Hussey brothers are another dangerous pair and, as always, Australian athleticism means that they will steal the extra run.
India will in all probability go in with two seamers and two spinners with Yuvraj to bowl his left-arm spin.
What is important is for India to get off to a good start too, for it is not fair to expect Virat Kohli to come good every time.
Sehwag has been out of sorts for some time now and he should be keen to make someone pay. His attitude and approach will be the key and if he, along with Gambhir, gets the team off to a quick start, then half the battle will be won.
It is going to be a tough opener to the Super Eights for India and a win will give them an enormous fillip to take on Pakistan, whom they play next.