Australia take on defending champions India

SYDNEY, MAR 26: Australia is all set to take on the defending cricket world champions, India, in the second semi final match of the Cricket World Cup 2015 at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.

Both teams went in with unchanged line-ups for a match that will be played on a dry pitch with no real grass cover, a surface that should bring hefty totals.

“The wicket looks great,” Clarke said at the toss. “I think it’ll be pretty good for both innings. Runs on the board is the reason I’ve gone for batting first.”

MS Dhoni agreed that there would be little change in the pitch from the first to the second innings, although he conceded that India would have batted first. However, they will be encouraged by the presence of one of world cricket’s finest chasers, Virat Kohli, in their line-up.

India are undefeated so far in this tournament and four of those wins have come batting second, although they have yet to be set a target in excess of 300, which could be feasible on such a good batting pitch. The match was due to begin in good conditions, with no chance of rain.

Australian line-up

1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Shane Watson, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Brad Haddin (wk), 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Indian line-up

1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Mohammed Shami.

AGENCIES