Australia win toss, opt to bat against India in decider
MOHALI, India (Reuters) - Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat against India on Sunday with their final World Twenty20 Super 10 match serving as a knockout match to secure a place in the last four versus West Indies.
Hosts India, inaugural World T20 champions in 2007, and reigning 50-over champions Australia have won two matches each in Group Two with their only loss against New Zealand, who have already reached the semi-finals where they face England.
Australia, who failed to win the World Twenty20 title in its previous five editions, were unchanged from the team that beat Pakistan in their last match.
"Looks a pretty good wicket. Looks a little bit dry and might slow down a little bit later in the game," Smith said at the toss referring to a pitch that was also used for the women's game between India and West Indies earlier on Sunday.
"I'm not really sure, hopefully we will put some good runs on the board," he added. "The guys have got certain plans and if we stick to them hopefully we can have some success against them."
India were again unchanged, having kept the same team for all their matches, against Australia, who they have defeated in their last five meetings in the shortest twenty20 format.
World top-ranked T20 side India came into the tournament in imperious form but their batsmen have struggled on the slow surfaces with low bounce that they have encountered in the tournament.
"We were also looking to bat first. There are chances it might slow down," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said at the toss.
"It looks like a surface that the batsmen will love but it depends on how much rolling has been done and how well it (the ball) comes off the wicket.
"The (bowling) has done the job for us so far. Our batting lineup looks stronger than our bowling so there's lots of talk about our batting. But I think it's quite balanced."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ken Ferris)