Australia Won the Toss and Choose to Bat First – Sehwag In, Yusuf Out

Toss: Ricky Ponting Won the Toss, and Australia will bat.

Abhishek has a pertinent question: “Why Ponting always wins such crucial tosses?”

Almost Really: “India have to overcome only 3M’s Motera, Mohali and Mumbai…come on India.”

PJ3000: “Finally, David Hussey is back! But it should have been in place of White, not Smith.”

Prasanna: “I hope Yuvi, Ashwin and Bhajji do a Hafeez, Afridi and Saeed Ajmal here, my gut feeling its the spinners who can win this game for India.”

Bill: “How on earth can they justify leaving White in the side. On form he should never have gone. Smith has it all over him, Smith bats, bowls and fields. Three things White has been unable to do for a while. A repetition of Hughes getting the bullet in England for another (at that time) non performing player.”

Aabhas: “Could it be that small incongruities become glaring glitches on otherwise perfect careers? The Don’s average of 99.94 and Sachin not winning a World Cup.”

abhijith: “Aus batting i hope it doesnt turn out to be a repeat of 2003 final.”

Dhruva: “India has a good chance if Zaheer Khan bowls 50 overs.”

Ponting: “This pitch will slow up as the game goes on. 250 looks like a reasonable score. Our bowling against Pakistan was probably the best we did in the tournament.” David Hussey is in for Steve Smith.

Dhoni: “It will assist the spinners as the game goes on. Unless you don’t think about pressure, there is no pressure. We are thinking about how we need to perform. Virender Sehwag is back in place of Yusuf Pathan.” Dhoni becomes the first player to play 100 ODIs as wicketkeeper-captain. No one else has managed even 50.

1.55 pm Pitch report Sourav Ganguly says it is pretty dry on one side of the wicket, and it could start turning as the game goes on. Lot of spin from the Pavilion end, and lot of pace from the other end, he says. “Looking at the heat and the drier part of the pitch”, win toss and bat first.

1.35 pm Welcome to our coverage of the World Cup quarter-final between defending champions Australia and hosts India. They were apparently expected to meet in a final, but have run into each other in the first knockout match. Both are understandably wary of each other, given India’s batting prowess and Australia’s bowling venom. It’s Sachin, Sehwag (if he plays), and Yuvraj against Lee, Tait and Johnson. This is where it all comes down to in the end, after months and months of hype and speculation. George Binoy has taken a look at this match through various prisms, and says that this is a meeting of two flawed heavyweights. Have a look at his preview.

There is a lot riding on this game. Apart from the right to face Pakistan in Mohali, that is. Will Sachin Tendulkar get his 100th international century? Will a loss be the last one for Ricky Ponting? Madhu, our stats man, says that though history is in favour of Australia, India’s in-form batting puts them slightly in front.

Talking about the captains, Ponting is not the only one who needs some runs, MS Dhoni averages 24 in ODIs this year, and even his strike-rate this year has taken a beating, 66 against a career one of 87.