India will go into Thursday's World Cup semi-final against Australia in Sydney confident of success irrespective of whether the wicket took turn or assisted fast bowlers. The wear and tear at the end of a long season was evident when the covers were removed at the Sydney Cricket ground on Wednesday, revealing a dry, brown pitch that would gladden India more than their rivals.
South African spinners Imran Tahir and JP Duminy shared seven wickets to bowl out Sri Lanka for 133 in the quarter-final at the SCG last week, setting up a nine-wicket win for the Proteas. But the bat dominated the ball in previous World Cup games at the venue, with Australia piling up 376 for nine against Sri Lanka and South Africa smashing 408 for five off the West Indies' attack. Australian coach Darren Lehmann predicted a high-scoring game, India were not sweating over the nature of the wicket. We have taken 70 wickets in seven matches, bowled out the opposition every time, so we know what we need to do.
Our seamers have done well and so have the spinners. We are ready for anything that we get. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men have confounded critics by recovering from a winless bilateral tour of Australia before the World Cup to brush aside all-comers in the tournament.
The vast, empty and silent terraces of the Melbourne Cricket Ground lay in anticipation on Saturday for Sunday's ICC Cricket World Cup Group B game between India and South Africa to electrify the vast hordes of fans enjoying a battle royale on what looks like a bald, hard pitch.
Any optimism around Sunday's match being a competitive battle would have been looked at with disdain. But the emphatic manner in which India secured victory over Pakistan in Adelaide as well as South Africa's less than convincing show against Zimbabwe in Hamilton last week have combined to heighten expectations of a keen battle. Some amazing friendships struck on the international circuit and in the much-maligned IPL notably MS Dhoni's association with Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli's bonding with AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn will be set aside on Sunday when the teams step on the field, wearing their respective colours and singing their own national anthems.There can be no doubt that South Africa are the better side on paper, with a series of explosive batsmen like de Villiers, du Plessis, David Miller, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock to make the most of Hashim Amla's anchoring approach, a quality bowling line-up that can test the best of teams and an eagerness to make this World Cup their own.
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