Slip is in, two boundary riders on the leg side, as we await the final countdown…
Mitchell Starc is donning his headband, as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma take their positions in the middle. Aaron Finch at the pitch report reckoned their might be some moisture in the surface early on. Can Australia’s quicks land a few blows with the new ball?
10.20am: “Crowd still steadily coming in but by no means full as things stand,” says Matt R. “India shirts heavily outnumbering Australia.” Almost time for the anthems at the Daren Sammy… and as the teams come out, more wind watch news from Matt: “Huge gust of wind nearly blown the giant Aussie flag away. Looks like hard work keeping it up.” Sounds like a real-life episode of Fun with Flags
“To answer Abhinav’s question, it would be less than around 15.2 or 15.3 overs that Australia has to chase the target to overtake India in terms of NRR. Yes, the total set would make a difference but not by much.” Right, there you go. Thanks, Amit. Now let’s stop talking about permutations and watch the game
10.15am: How fresh are Australia for this one? They finished past midnight in St Vincent on Saturday and then we understand they had a delayed flight to St Lucia yesterday. India have been travel-play-travel-play-travel through the Super Eight, too, but did at least come here off another morning game against Bangladesh
“Could you be able to tell us how can Aus overtake the NRR of India, considering Australia are chasing the innings?” Not until India have set a target, Abhinav! Patience, all will be revealed in due course…
“Has India ever batted second in this tournament?? I don’t remember any innings where India chased the target and probably that is what India wanted to get Kohli in form.” They chased against both Ireland and USA, Sachin (Kohli scores: 1 and 0)
10.02am: Australia win the toss and bowl, Mitchell Marsh confirms Starc in for Agar. He reckons the pitch “looks a belter” and wants to chase. “We found ourselves in this position a few times, backs to the walls,” he says. “At this stage of the tournament every game’s a must win, pressure comes with that.” Rohit Sharma also wanted to bowl, but is content his side know what they’re doing after a convincing tournament so far. “[Pitch] looks good, hope it doesn’t change too much. We have adapted well to conditions, so hopefully another game where we can do that.” India are unchanged from their wins over Afghanistan and Bangladesh
Australia: 1 Travis Head, 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
9.58am: Toss coming up… Just time for me to pass on another golden nugget from Matt: “My good friends at ‘windy.app’ reckon winds between 17.8-22.3mph today with gusts up to 31.2mph. That’s about 50% higher than in England vs South Africa.” Sounds like a good day to fly a kite
9.50am: On the subject of the Australia XI, Matt has this: “Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Marsh all marking out run-ups. So likely to be Starc for Agar as only Aussie change.”
Ashish Kachhawa: “I would love to see SA play AFG in finals but AFG are unlikely to top this group so will settle with IND AFG final.” Sounds like Eng vs Aus loading, then
“If Aus wins today than mark my word Afghanistan will win from Bangladesh with as margin required.” That’s fighting talk, Sandy (and I’m not in a position to check whether it’s even mathematically possible)
OldTimer, I hear you: “The wounds from 2023 are fresh but the scars from 2003 final are deep. I guess this just means I am too old!”
9.45am: As well as the gusty conditions in Gros Islet, the teams will be contending with a used pitch for this match – the same as the one used for South Africa’s Group 2 game against England last Friday. That surface was notably slower than for other games played in St Lucia; with another early start, will it be important to try and get runs on the board? And how does that play into each team’s respective strengths, with Australia mulling whether to bring back Mitchell Starc or persist with three spin options?
Desh: “If Aus win this match with high margin after scoring around 200, and then Afgan win the match against the BAN with high margin. Does this mean IND and BAN will be out? Pls enlighten me.” Certainly, Desh. This scenarios article is your friend – but here is the relevant paragraph: For India to get knocked out, both Australia and Afghanistan will have to win by big margins. Australia will need to beat India by 41 runs to go past them on run rate, while Afghanistan will have to beat Bangladesh by at least 83 runs.
“Isn’t Kettleborough the same umpire who officiated in all the matches at biggest stages which India lost (WTC finals, World Cups)? Is that a sign of the result we should expect?” One word, Parvesh. No
“Go Australia, if only to have yet another Aus-SA WC semi-final!” hoots Julian, with a cruel glint in his eye
9.30am: The reason this game has so much riding on it, at least from an Australia perspective, is because of a famous first international defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in St Vincent the other night. Not even Glenn Maxwell could save them on this occasion, though being better in the field might have done – Mitch Marsh was confident afterwards that his side would raise their standards, and you would think they will need to against an India side that is unbeaten at the tournament so far (five wins and a washout)
Here’s Mustafa Moudi: “Fun Fact: The Last time Australia defeated India in a T20 World Cup Match was back in 2012. But what’s in their favour is the fact that the only match both these sides faced each other in West Indies, was won by Australia too in 2010. Looking forward to this interesting battle !!” Yes, I remember that 2010 game – couple of young bucks were the top-scorers on either side: David Warner and Rohit Sharma. Wonder what happened to them?
“Aus are at their absolute most dangerous when they’re buckling under major pressure,” declares Walt. “It’s been a hallmark of the team for decades, and it’s what separates them from all other cricket teams. They’re not going to just give up and go out with a whimper. IMO, we can expect a clash for the ages.”
And Manu Ajmani knows he wasn’t dreaming (but has put it very poetically nevertheless): “It took some time to move past 19 November. It took some time to hide the wounds of when Australia outplayed India at the grandest stage of them all. The emotions were real, the fanaticism was real, the hope is real that someone wakes us up to tell us that it was just a dream. We know it wasn’t, and here we are again. India vs Australia in another high stakes clash. Indian fans hoping to get some sort of revenge while Aussies will look to repeat the carnage in 2023 final.”
9.15am: Matt is now in situ at the ground and confirms it is still not raining. Sensational scenes. “It’s a fair bit cooler today, very strong crosswind again from northeast,” he adds. “Quite a few India shirts around the Rodney Bay Area last night and starting to pop up in the stands too.” If you’re into your weather (and what cricket fan isn’t, frankly), you’ll want to read Matt’s piece on the St Lucia winds before we get started
And also on matters meteorological, here’s Bhaskar: “How’s the weather? Taking a page out of Hazlewood’s book and hoping for a washout .. because it would help eliminate THE big threat, his own team :)”
9am: Hello! Welcome to the penultimate clash of the Super Eight – a heavyweight encounter of the crunchiest kind, as India seek to dot the ‘t’s and cross the ‘i’s on their passage into the World Cup semi-finals and Australia *checks notes* fight for survival? It reads wrong, but it’s most certainly right! The current ICC Test and ODI champs came here looking to unite the belts but one defeat in six has left them looking uneasily over their shoulders coming into this game. Win and they could still be overhauled by Afghanistan, lose and they are very likely heading out. Throw in the history between these two teams – yes, I’m afraid November 19 is going to get a mention – the friendships and rivalries, and varying routes to get to this point at the Daren Sammy International Stadium, and there’s plenty to look forward to. For now, I’ll leave you with Karthik Krishnaswamy’s preview and the news from Matt Roller that it’s not currently raining (or wasn’t when he woke up a couple of hours ago)