With Australia and India camps preparing hard for the semi-final on March 26, both teams are anxiously waiting to see what Sydney throws up for the epic clash on Thursday. The state of the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch could play a pivotal role in deciding which teams progresses to the final.
Sydney is normally a spinner's paradise, which would suit the Indians, who are raised on slow, turning wickets.
Going by the form of offspinner R Ashwin (12 wickets) and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (9 wickets), India can cause lots of trouble to Australian batsmen. Not to forget that likes of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma can turn their arm around as well and can chip in with crucial wickets.
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On the other hand, four times World Champions Australia have just one specialist spinner, Xavier Doherty, in their squad. The left-arm spinner has played just two out of seven games in this World Cup and has not been in good form. Although, they have part-time spinners like Glenn Maxwell and Steven Smith but the duo should be of no worry to India's strong batting line-up.
With three days to go, Australian players have already started the mind games and the likes of Michael Clarke, Josh Hazlewood and Maxwell have already made it clear that they want a green top which suits their pace bowlers who have been in good form.
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"The game that was played there (SCG) recently had a bit of grass on it so that will certainly help our fast bowlers if the wicket is like that. If it does spin, we have spinning options in our squad," Clarke said after Australia's win over Pakistan in the quarter-final match.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood echoed his captain's views on Saturday and all-rounder Maxwell sang the same tune on Sunday. Maxwell, who blasted a century in Australia's Pool A win over Sri Lanka at the same ground, made it quite clear that he wanted the pitch to remain the way it has in the tournament so far.
"Hopefully we get a fast one. It has been a pretty good wicket this year and hopefully there is a bit of grass there as well," Maxwell said ahead of the semi-final clash.
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Over the years, the Sydney wicket has assisted spinners. Across formats, Shane Warne has been the most successful bowler here. In the last match played here - South Africa's leg spinner Imran Tahir (4 for 26) and part-time off spinner Jean-Paul Duminy (3 for 29), who took the hat-trick, destroyed Sri Lanka to ensure their side cruised into the semi-final with a nine-wicket win.
Earlier in the tournament, Tahir picked up 5 for 45 against the West Indies.The Indians haven't beaten Australia in any form of the game since they arrived in the country in November 2014 but are high on confidence after winning all their World Cup matches quite easily. After a lacklustre start to the tour, the defending World Cup champions have hit their peak at the right time, winning seven matches on the trot to stroll into the semi-finals.
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When Australia and India played each other in the final Test match in January at the SCG, the pitch suited the spinners, and India would love a wicket like that once again. Both the teams are already in Sydney and in couple of days it will be clear what kind of pitch is in the offing.
But a word of caution: India and Australia have faced each other 14 times at the SCG with the former winning just once and losing on 12 occasions. One match was a no-result.
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