Tuesday’s frenzied first semi final generated anguish for the vanquished South Africans, whose failure to make cricket’s biggest stage survives as a desperate anomaly. A shared and magnified fear of failure hung over both teams.
No such apprehension will pervade the heavyweights of cricket when Australia host India. Neither plays in a culture punctuated with letdown. They’re teams accustomed to fighting and winning.
They know each other intimately – plainly, there isn’t lost love. Perversely, the frequency of their contests means form doesn’t mean much. There nothing these rivals don’t know about each other. India are into the sixth month of their tour. Winless until their World Cup streak, it highlights their priorities, culminating in Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia haven’t lost any of the six Cup semis they’ve played, and while India’s record is more balanced (3-1) as defending champions they know how to find a way to win with billions of eyes trained on them.
A larger driver will be how the pitch comes up after inclement weather. Extra life will benefit Australia, operating without a specialist tweaker in favour of a battering ram.
India’s quicks have surprised, leading the only team who’ve taken all available wickets. Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma don’t carry the reputations of Mitchells - Starc and Johnson - but they’ve quietly collected 42 wickets.
They will have watched Wahab Riaz go within a dropped catch of potentially decimating Australia. Whether they have the pace to replicate that is questionable, but as containment counts for little, an assault aimed at Australian helmets has merit.
Australia’s innings totals can deceive. Had that aforementioned catch been held, they would have been in genuine strife. Aaron Finch’s list of failures is cause for concern, and the Indians will fancy getting an early look at Michael Clarke. The lower-order pair of James Faulkner and Brad Haddin are fine auxiliary support, but have barely been required.
The earlier India can take on Glenn Maxwell, the harder to play his devastating game. If he’s able to unleash after a base has been established, well… good luck.
India – the home of score hyperinflation – has gone about it in a more modest manner, never needing more than 307.
Granted, Bangladesh were an umpiring decision away from being ahead, but a timely ton from Rohit Sharma following on from centuries by Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, reflects the stability of a balanced lineup.
Then there’s Virat Kholi, who has a knack of stepping up when needed most. Much like his skipper, MS Dhoni.
Back to Starc, who started 2015 with two wickets in three balls, and added 28 since – one every three overs. No individual will influence this result more.
In a format routinely accused of lacking relevance, there’s no greater incentive than this. If India progresses, they’ll earn the opportunity to defend their trophy; for Australia it will be the chance to make it four World Cup triumphs out of five. For the superpowers of cricket, perhaps it was always destined to be so.
Adam Collins is an Australian cricket writer. He tweets at @collinsadam
