Australia v India, Centurion

It's the big match of Group A with world champions Australia taking on India at the Centurion. While Australia won their first game against the West Indies after a shaky start, the Indians lost comprehensively to Pakistan meaning it is a must-win scenario for Dhoni's men. Australia also can't take things lightly and will have to win at least one of their last two matches. An Indian win will open up the group. India's problems are aplenty. There bowlers went for too many runs against Pakistan and will have to get their act right against Australia. India need to play a fifth bowler and it may drop a batsman as it's the lack of fifth bowler giving them the worry. Indian batting also needs to resurrect itself. Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni flopped against Pakistan which badly reflected on India's performance. A more concerted effort will be required by all their batsmen against a potent Australian pace battery. On their part, Australia have some grey areas to work upon. No one apart from skipper Ricky Ponting managed to fire against a mediocre West Indian bowling line which is a cause of concern for them. Some players look tired for being away from home for long. The likes of Michael Hussey and Shane Watson and Ferguson need to put in more solid contributions. In bowling, although Australia bowled West Indies out yet they were far from being impressive. Indians are a resourceful batting unit which will indeed test the Australian bowling. Australians will start favourites but only just, as Indians will be more than eager to win to stay alive in the tournament. Players to look out for Mitchell Johnson will be the main man in Australian camp to look out for. Johnson bowls express fast and is a handy lower order hitter. The Queenslander seems to be getting back into form both with bat and ball and will one Indians will be wary off in today's game. Gautam Gambhir is a pocket dynamo - an explosive opener. He almost took the game away from Pakistan on Saturday with his fantastic knock before being run out. So for this game the Delhi batsman will be even more eager to lead the Indian charge in the do or die battle. Head to head & Conditions There have been 97 ODIs played between Australia and India out of which Aussies have won 57 while India have turned up victors 32 times. In recent games, overall Australia have won four of their last five ODI games while India have won twice in their last five ODI games. The conditions in the day night game can be favourable for the side batting second as the dew factor comes into play under lights which makes bowling difficult. Expected line-ups Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White. India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar, Virat Kohli. Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Billy Bowden (NZL) TV umpire: Asad Rauf (PAK) Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

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