India's plans to counter Australia revealed? Ricky Ponting identifies key strategy ahead of clash

When Virat Kohli announced his side to take on South Africa, few eyebrows were raised when Mohammed Shami was benched and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was included in his place. India went in with two genuine pacers and two spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal and this worked out nicely for the side.

They now take on Australia, a side which is in form and have already won both their matches so far. However, the batting struggled against an aggressive West Indies bowling attack as they were made uncomfortable by the pace and bounce.

Ahead of the India-Australia fixture, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that India can attack Aaron Finch's side with pace and include Mohammed Shami in the mix.

"(Jasprit) Bumrah we know is a very good new ball bowler and I'm sure he'll mix it up and bowl some short stuff and some full stuff," Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

'Decision to make on the overall make up of their side'

"Bhuvneshwar will probably not worry you too much with his pace or his bouncers. Hardik can maybe rush you a little bit, so they have a decision to make on the overall makeup of their side," he further added.

Ponting said that India could think about including a third genuine seamer in the mix and go in with Kedar Jadhav as the second spinner as the Oval track also has spongy bounce which has been made use of by the seamers.

"Do they go with only one spinner and use (off-spinning all-rounder) Kedar Jadhav as a second spinner and play another fast bowler? We'll worry about that in the next couple of days and make sure all the boys are prepared," he assessed.

India did not get off to an entirely bright start in their chase against South Africa and were ruffled by the pace and movement by Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris, but Ponting believes this was a wake-up call and that the side will now be better prepared to deal with high-pressure scenarios. 

"It could very well be ... a wake-up call. Just understanding that if you are under pressure in big games like World Cup games, finding a mechanism or a way to get through (is important)," said Ponting.