A billion pairs of eyes will be turned in the direction of the Indian cricket team on Thursday but the wider cricketing world will be focused on Australia and in particular the actions of one man, Ricky Ponting.
Straight bat: Ricky Ponting calmly defended his position as Australia captain and refused to be drawn on retirement speculation on Wednesday
On the eve of the match that will decide his future as Australian captain Ponting has done his best to refute claims he will retire at the end of theWorld Cup.
At 36 and with a third Ashes defeat behind him, the decision on his future will be taken out of his hands if Australia lose to India in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Ponting though remains defiant as Australia seek to keep alive their hopes of a fourth successive World Cup.
“I don’t see the finish line,” said Ponting on Wednesday. “I want to keep playing both forms of the game as long as I think I can contribute.
"Nothing’s changed for me in the past 12 months. I’ve said all along, every time I’ve been asked about retirement, is that I’m enjoying my cricket as much as ever.
"I’ve never, ever thought about retirement or where the finish line might be. I’ve been trying to prepare myself as best I can as a player and lead the side as well as possible. For some reason, these retirement things keep popping up all the time.”
The reason retirement is a recurring theme is due to results for Australia.
They were heavily beaten by England in the Ashes but that was only the culmination of months of decline.
A broken finger saved Ponting from the final humiliation of an innings defeat in the Sydney Test but it only served to crank up the pressure for the World Cup.
With his team fading as quickly as his own form Ponting has cut a forlorn figure over the past few weeks and has become wrapped up in minor controversies that can be easily ignored when a team is winning but suddenly take on a different importance when form is reversed.
First he was reprimanded for smashing a television in Ahmedabad when he was run out against Zimbabwe and then acted petulantly when he collided with Steve Smith while trying to take a catch in the win against Canada.
His reputation as a player, and Australia’s reverential attitude towards a captain who has been successful in the past, has saved Ponting from the pressure to resign that he would have endured if he were Andrew Strauss or MS Dhoni.
But World Cups are moments for reflection and a loss on Thursday would make it very hard for Cricket Australia not to draw a line under the Ponting era, even though a successor is not waiting in the wings.
“I can laugh it off, but at the same time I’d rather not be answering the retirement questions on the eve of such a big game against India against a World Cup,” said Ponting.
“Before we left Australia, if someone had told us that we would be playing the quarterfinal against India in the World Cup, we would all have been very excited. “You can’t get anything bigger than that — except playing India in the final in India.
"The fact that there is so much riding on the end result tomorrow makes it the reason why you want to play international cricket.”
Australia have recognised their weaknesses and packed their arsenal with fast bowling.
Brett Lee has justified his selection with 12 wickets while Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson could be potent on a Ahmedabad pitch which is likely to be quicker than the one in Banglaore when India beat Australia in a warm-up match before the tournament.
Then Australia were bowled out for 176 with nine wickets falling to spin.
Australia had a low key start to the World Cup with wins over a New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada which served to suggest they may be undercooked when the tournament started in earnest.
India, though, qualified from the far tougher Group B with their standing as favourites to win the World Cup dented by their failure to defend 338 against England and defeat to South Africa.
At one stage it looked as if they would have to make do with wins over the minnows to progress from the group stage until Yuvraj Singh steered India to victory against West Indies.
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