The second World Twenty20 semifinal is likely to hinge on who emerges on top in the battle between the big-hitting West Indian batsmen and India's wily spinners when the former champion clash at the Wankhede Stadium Thursday. India, the world's top-ranked side in the shortest format, arrived at the sixth edition of the tournament with 10 wins from 11 matches in 2016 and was considered overwhelming favorite by fans, opposing captains and bookmakers alike. But while an opening Super 10 stage defeat to New Zealand, which reached the semifinals unbeaten, was a wake-up call, the home side's credentials came into question in a one-run win over Bangladesh, which lost three wickets in the last three balls. Virat Kohli's wide blade was then called on to see off a stiff challenge from 50-over world champion Australia in a winner-take-all contest to reach the last four, his masterclass glossing over some major batting flaws for the 2007 champion. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have failed to build a solid foundation for the host and their opening stands of five, 14, 42 and 23 have put pressure on the middle and lower order to provide a bulk of the scoring. Left-hander Suresh Raina's scores of one, zero, 30 and 10 have not been overly helpful either, and calls for the NO. 4 batsman's omission from the team have only gained momentum. Yuvraj Singh has been ruled out with an ankle injury, opening the door for either Ajinkya Rahane or the recalled Manish Pandey to stake a claim in the starting side."You can't rely on one batsman, yes the others have contributed, but still at the same time, if we can do a bit more with the bat at the top of the order and the middle overs, I think we will feel the pressure slightly less," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after the Australia triumph. "Also, it will be good, because still we feel we are batting at 65 percent, barring Virat (Kohli)." Dhoni faces the prospect of lifting a third World Cup for India after leading them in 2007 and again for the 50-overs title in 2011, the wicketkeeper lauded for his exceptional calmness and savvy against Bangladesh as India stole victory. A win Thursday will take India to a third final in the World Twenty20 under Dhoni after it went down to South Asian rival Sri Lanka in the last edition in Bangladesh. The strong form of his spinners and accuracy of pacemen Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah in the death overs will give Dhoni hope of taming the West Indies batsmen on a surface that has done little to help the bowlers in three matches. South Africa saw a 230-run target chased down by England, which was on the receiving end of Chris Gayle's assault when it failed to defend a score of 182. At the same ground, Afghanistan gave South Africa a scare. Afghanistan also inflicted the only Super 10 defeat on West Indies with its spinners finding a way to restrict its powerful batsmen in Nagpur. The 2012 champion rested Gayle for that game and a hamstring injury to Andre Fletcher, who has since been ruled out of the tournament and replaced by Lendl Simmons, hampered their chase further. But the inability to chase down a modest 124 would have not gone unnoticed and skipper Darren Sammy is hoping it was just a one-off and not a sign of inconsistency. "We have to leave this game in Nagpur," Sammy said. "Now we have two knockouts to play. It's going to be a hell of a game. It's going to be 15 West Indian players versus thousands and how many billion here in India. The guys who predict the results, I think they say it's 80-20 to India so it feels like a David and Goliath but people tend to forget that David won the fight. It's something similar to that."
