Super 8: Australia win toss, opt to field first against India in do-or-die match

The Mitchell Marsh-led Australia elected to field first against the Rohit Sharma-led India after winning the toss in the Super Eight match of the T20 World Cup 2024 being played at Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet which is crucial for both sides to secure a semi-finals’ berth.

Australia’s skipper Mitchell Marsh revealed the reason behind opting to bowl first saying that they want to chase as the track looks better.

“We found ourselves in this position a few times, backs to the walls,” Marsh said. “At this stage of the tournament every game’s a must win, pressure comes with that.”

Rohit Sharma also wanted to bowl but the Indian captain is hoping that the pitch will not change much in the second innings.

“It looks good, hope it doesn’t change too much. We have adapted well to conditions, so hopefully, another game where we can do that.”

Australia made one change with Mitchell Starc coming in place of Ashton Agar while India remained unchanged.

It is a must-win match for Australia as if they lose tonight, they will almost be out as Afghanistan would just require a win over Bangladesh in the last Super 8 match of the World Cup.

On the other hand, thanks to India’s impressive Net Run Rate (NRR), a win tonight would be enough to steer them to the semi-finals. But if they lose, they will be dependent on the result of Afghanistan vs Bangladesh.

Playing XIs

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.