The Australians lost their first two matches, to India and South Africa, before making a strong comeback, beating Sri Lanka, Pakistan, The Netherlands and New Zealand in their next four fixtures
AB de Villiers prior to the rugby World Cup final in Paris last Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
With seven wins in seven matches, Team India are favourites to lift the ODI World Cup, but former South African big-hitter AB de Villiers believes Australia can halt the march of Rohit Sharma & Co if they meet them in the semi-finals.
India are currently on top of the table with 14 points, while Pat Cummins’s Australia are in third spot, having won four out of their six games so far. The Australians lost their first two matches, to India and South Africa, before making a strong comeback, beating Sri Lanka, Pakistan, The Netherlands and New Zealand in their next four fixtures.
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They take on out-of-form defending champions England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today.
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“India are favourites for this World Cup. I see them going all the way. They’re playing the best cricket among all the teams. But, in sport, there are always surprises. There are two knockout games that await India. New Zealand and South Africa are in a close second [place]. Then, there’s Australia.
“I believe you can find a bit of form towards the back end of a tournament and Australia can be very dangerous. They’ve won this tournament five times. And once they get into the knockout stages, they’re always dangerous,” De Villiers said while discussing Jacob’s Creek Unvined’s new campaign.
India fans would be worried
The former Proteas captain is convinced that the prospect of playing Australia in the semis would worry Indian fans too, “As an Indian fan, I’m nervous about something like that [facing Australia in the semi-finals]. Whether there’s good form or bad form, whether you’re favourites or not, if you play Australia in a
knockout game, the nerves just go up a bit,” he added.
India defeated Ricky
Ponting’s Aussies in the 2011 World Cup quarter-finals to end the then four-time champions’ dream of winning their fourth consecutive World Cup title.
Meanwhile, Australia ended India’s seven-match winning streak, beating the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side in the 2015 World Cup.
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