India vs Australia

India vs Australia 15th T20 Match, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown

India vs Australia 15th T20 Match, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown On May 7, 2010 from 13:30 GMT | 19:00 IST Onwards

Michael Clarke admitted his bowlers were ready for a trial by spin when they faced India in their opening Super Eights clash at the World Twenty20 here on Friday. Australia collapsed to 65 for six against Bangladesh with the Tigers’ spinners taking four wickets between them after fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza removed opener Shane Watson on his way to figures of two wickets for 28 runs.

Australia are set to face an old antagonist in off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, and several other quality slow bowlers, as well as India left-arm quick Ashish Nehra. “I think spin bowling is going to play a big part in this tournament, whether that’s how you face spin or you bowl spin,” Clarke said.

India have got some good spin bowlers, Harbhajan is one of the best in the world, so we’re going to have to work out a plan against him and back ourselves at that. “Every player in our team plays spin bowling differently, you need to be confident with your plan and stick to that.”Reflecting on the Bangladesh match, Clarke said: “I think it is a very satisfying win. Our top order obviously didn’t perform as well as we’d like, the conditions were a lot different to St Lucia, we probably didn’t adapt as well as we’d like.

At the end of the day wherever the bowler lands the ball dictates where the batter hits it. I think we have a very talented bowling squad, it’s just about being able to execute our plans. Australia had to play without Mitchell Johnson against Bangladesh because of an elbow infection, but Clarke was cautiously optimistic about the left-arm paceman’s prospects. “He was certainly improving, this (Wednesday) morning. Mitch is a huge part of our team with both bat and ball, hopefully he is fit.”