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Toss India chose to bat v Australia
India have made the tough decision to leave Virender Sehwag out of their side as MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat in the Super Eights clash with Australia in Colombo. The Indians were keen to play five bowlers and the squeeze meant there was no room for Sehwag, who did not play in their previous match against England in the group stage.
India made two changes to the side that thrashed England, with R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan brought back in at the expense of Ashok Dinda and L Balaji. Dhoni said using five bowlers was an attractive option given that several of them could also offer plenty with the bat.
"The good thing is the spinners can bat a bit," Dhoni said. "Ashwin, Chawla and Harbhajan can bat a bit if needed, so it gives us plenty of cushioning if needed at the back end of the 20 overs."
As expected, Australia made no changes to their team.
Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Cameron White, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Mitchell Starc.
India 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Irfan Pathan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Zaheer Khan.
India have made the tough decision to leave Virender Sehwag out of their side as MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat in the Super Eights clash with Australia in Colombo. The Indians were keen to play five bowlers and the squeeze meant there was no room for Sehwag, who did not play in their previous match against England in the group stage.
India made two changes to the side that thrashed England, with R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan brought back in at the expense of Ashok Dinda and L Balaji. Dhoni said using five bowlers was an attractive option given that several of them could also offer plenty with the bat.
"The good thing is the spinners can bat a bit," Dhoni said. "Ashwin, Chawla and Harbhajan can bat a bit if needed, so it gives us plenty of cushioning if needed at the back end of the 20 overs."
As expected, Australia made no changes to their team.
Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Cameron White, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Mitchell Starc.
India 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Irfan Pathan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Zaheer Khan.