India vs Australia Live Streaming Super 8 ICC T20 World Cup 2012

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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.

 Virender Sehwag, the out-of-form India opener, has been left out of the side for the Super Eights match against Australia. MS Dhoni, who called selecting the XI for this match "one of the toughest calls" of his captaincy career, has gone against his nature on two counts. As a rule he prefers seven batsmen and doesn't like making tough selection calls, but for this match not only did he leave out a senior player in Sehwag, he also went in with five bowlers.

Three of those five bowlers were spinners, on a dry Premadasa pitch that has started to assist the slow bowlers towards the business end of the tournament. Dhoni said all his spinners can contribute with the bat if needed, which made the decision a little easier. "If you see, [R] Ashwin, Harbhajan [Singh] and Piyush [Chawla] can bat a bit," Dhoni said at the toss.

Sehwag found a supporter in Kevin Pietersen. "I feel sorry for Viru," Pietersen said on Star Cricket's preview show for the match. "I know Australia would rather face an Indian side without Sehwag in it."

Sourav Ganguly, former India captain who knows Sehwag's game better than most, said he didn't expect Sehwag to be out for long. "I'm not surprised with that (being left out)," Ganguly said. "It's the right decision, looking at the context of the game and the nature of the pitch. India have gone in with five bowlers and three spinners … It's a good decision, but a one-off decision I'm sure. Sehwag will come back, it's horses for courses." 

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