India face Australia Monday in a do-or-die match

CENTURION - After a dissapointing loss against Pakistan, India will take on defending champions Australia in a must-win Champions Trophy Group A game at SuperSport Park here Monday.

World No.1 India could have won the match against Pakistan but missed the presence of of a part-time bowler. It is now time for India to regroup and come out with a better game plan against Australia.

But skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has quite a few problems to sort out before his boys take the field Monday. His frontline bowlers, too, had failed to click against Pakistan.

The Indians didn’t bowl according to the set field and allowed the Pakistani batsmen to score freely on both sides of the wicket. They can’t afford the same mistake against Australia.

So furious was Dhoni with their performance that he said his front line bowlers were reduced to just part-timers.

“It seemed we had three or four part-time bowlers. You cannot set a field for bad bowling,” he maintained.

Given the slowness of the SuperSport Park track, Dhoni may opt for an extra spinner in leggie Amit Mishra in place of an unimpressive Rudra Pratap Singh. The India captain is also likely to go in with an extra batsman and all-rounder in Abhishek Nayar, who can be useful with his medium pace and may come in for Virat Kohli.

India also need to think about their batting. Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina all got starts but failed to convert them into big scores while chasing a 300-plus target.

Dhoni would also hope Dravid is fit for the game against Australia. Dravid injured himself while stretching to reach the crease during his run-out dismissal.

For Australia, it will be a tricky task to adjust to a slow SuperSport track from a pacy Wanderers strip.

Australia are better placed than India, but their win against the West Indies was far from being impressive.

The depleted West Indies team put up a spirited performance but the defending champions survived the scare.

The Australian middle-order has been wobbly but the return of vice captain Michael Clarke will strengthen the line-up.

The formidable Ausssie bowling attack, spearheaded by Brett Lee, will also be put to test against India. While Lee and Mitchell Johnson can be deadly with their swing, Peter Siddle can cause some damage with his raw pace.

The stage is perfect for the world No.1 and No.2 to fight it out for the top spot.