(MENAFN- Arab Times) SYDNEY March 24 (Agencies): Steve Smith piled on a lot of runs against India leading into the World Cup and reckons the defending champions still have a few scars from their underwhelming tour against Australia. The teams meet again in the World Cup semifinals on Thursday with India on a seven-match winning streak that started with a 76-run win over archrival Pakistan on Feb 15.
That's of no great concern to Smith who says 'I think we'll have a little edge over them with a few scars from the matches throughout the summer' when India failed to win a competitive match. 'They didn't beat us once' the 25-year-old right-hander said. 'So I think that's going to be playing on their mind a little bit.' Four-time champion and top-ranked Australia lost to co-host New Zealand by a wicket in a low-scoring group match to finish second in Pool A but otherwise has been dominant in a southern summer that included a test series win over India and limited-overs tri-series title against India and England. India didn't win a game in the tri-series. Smith was Australia's premier batsman in the test series and finished up as captain when Michael Clarke was injured. He scored 162 not out and 52 not out in the first test and adding 133 192 and 117 in Australia's first innings in Brisbane Melbourne and Sydney to finish the series with 769 runs. He scored 47 in his only ODI innings against India in the tri-series. In the 50-over format Smith has started fulfilling his promise in the last six months and has posted all three of his ODI centuries since October 7. He started poorly at the World Cup with scores of 5 and 4 but has found his touch since being elevated to bat at No. 3 scoring 95 against Afghanistan in Perth and following it up with 72 against Sri Lanka and 65 in the quarterfinal win over Pakistan. His partnership with Shane Watson the player he replaced at No. 3 was crucial in Australia's win over 1992 champion Pakistan a match that featured a torrid spell of bowling from Wahab Riaz and some angry exchanges between the pace bowler and the Australian allrounder. Meanwhile India star Virat Kohli returns to the scene of one of his most memorable Test innings hoping to rediscover batting form for Thursday's World Cup semi-final against Australia in Sydney. It was at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January that Kohli captaining India after the shock retirement of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the longer format hit 147 and 46 to lead his team to a creditable draw. It was his fourth century in the four-Test series and prevented Australia from making it 3-0 after the hosts had piled up a mammoth 572 for seven in their first innings. Kohli's form dipped alarmingly in the subsequent tri-series that also featured England with scores of nine four three and eight as India failed to make the final and ended the bilateral tour without a win. But the elegant right-hander justified Dhoni's assessment of his vice-captain being a big-match player by striking a match-winning 107 in their World Cup opener against arch-rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on Feb 15. Kohli followed that with 46 against mighty South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the next match helping the defending champions to the second of seven straight wins in the tournament so far. But as India cruised along Kohli found runs hard to come by making identical scores of 33 against the United Arab Emirates and the West Indies an unbeaten 44 versus Ireland 38 against Zimbabwe and three in the quarter-final against Bangladesh. India's team director Ravi Shastri dismissed the tri-series in Australia preceding the World Cup as a complete waste of time and energy for a side defending their world title in less than two weeks' time. The former India captain seemed to have a point as the team since landing in Australia in late November could not register a single win in the four-test series and finished the subsequent tri-series also involving England in similar manner. Certainly not an ideal build-up for a team bidding to join West Indies and Australia as the third nation to successfully defend their World Cup title. But what India gained and Shastri overlooked that point is valuable knowledge of local conditions in the four months which made them the World Cup's best prepared team outside the co-hosts. Their pace bowlers a revelation at the World Cup figured out the right length they need to bowl to succeed and the batsmen went into the tournament knowing what kind of bounce to expect on surfaces vastly different from the ones back home. Hardly a surprise that while three of their neighbours Pakistan Sri Lanka and Bangladesh crashed out in the quarter-finals India remain the only team from the sub-continent to make the last four and make it in style. They have looked a completely transformed side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India became the first team to claim 70 wickets in seven matches and remained unbeaten going into Thursday's semi-final against Australia. 'They've just played a lot more cricket here and getting used to the lengths you need to bowl' Australia opener Aaron Finch said on Tuesday.
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