Quarter will be played as MINI FINAL

India have played Australia in 15 one-days at home in the last five years, and Australia have won nine of those matches. Both teams have lost a game each in the group stages of this World Cup, and though India will be hoping home advantage can buoy them to a victory, Nielsen warned it could also be a hindrance to them. Nielsen said he remember the pressure Australia faced playing the World Cup at home in 1992, and things would be no different for India. Playing at home ground is a huge factor for India. There’s some pressure there and Australia can start the game well and maybe quieten the crowd that will play on the mind of the Indian team.

Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, has said his team were hoping to meet India in the final of the World Cup, and would be treating their quarter-final against the tournament co-hosts in Ahmedabad on Thursday as a “mini-grand final”. He said that Australia is aware the atmosphere at Motera would be electric, and the players were looking forward to that.

The attention on India will also help lessen the hype that usually surrounds any Australian team at a World Cup. This time around, the defending champions are not the out-and-out favourites to win the tournament, and the end of their unbeaten World Cup streak, against Pakistan in Colombo, has further lessened the aura of the side. Nielsen looks at that as an advantage, saying all the pressure was on India.