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Colombo: India are likely to go in with five specialist bowlers to plug their bowling loopholes when they take on the mighty Australians in its opening 'Super Eight' fixture of the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.
The comprehensive victory against England and Harbhajan Singh's brilliant comeback has raised questions as to what exactly will be a winning combination against George Bailey's men who have looked good in both their group league matches against Ireland and West Indies respectively.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has given clear indications that he would go in with five specialist bowlers, a move which will mean that India will have one batsman short.
While the England match was won with five bowlers, it was more about testing a different combination as the result had no bearing on the Super Eights classification.
It will be interesting to see what bowling combination Dhoni would prefer for the first 'super eight' game and whether he would opt for three spinners or three pacers.
On current form, Lakshmipathy Balaji is a better bowler at the death overs than the 33-year-old Zaheer Khan mainly because of the variety of slower deliveries that he has in his repertoire.
The two key batsmen in the Australian set-up are left-handers David Warner and Mike Hussey. The presence of the duo at the top of the order certainly means that Harbhajan's inclusion is necessary because of his stupendous record against the left-handers.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who was rested against England, will also make a comeback into the playing eleven. The other certainty in the bowling department is Irfan Pathan, who has been providing the team with breakthroughs regularly.
The batting, however, bears a much more settled look with the good news being that Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma are back among runs.
The only thing to worry will be Yuvraj Singh's place in batting order. The talented left-hander has been struggling with the bat.
On otherhand, Australia are expected to name an unchanged side after using the same XI for their victories over Ireland and West Indies in the group stage. That would mean still no place for David Hussey, the leading run scorer in Twenty20 history.
Shane Watson in particular has been outstanding, both with the ball and at the top of the batting order, and has been Man of the Match in both games so far
Teams from
India: MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan.
Australia: George Bailey (captain), David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Dan Christian, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hogg, Clint McKay, Mitchell Starc.
Pitch and conditions
India's spinners enjoyed working at the R Premadasa Stadium against England - Harbhajan Singh took four wickets and Piyush Chawla two. There have also been plenty of runs in the pitch for the batsmen.
Stats and trivia
Match facts
Friday September 28, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 19:30 local (14:00 GMT, 7.30pm IST)
