Australia
Strengths: Well, they are the world champions in every format and have a habit of winning the big matches – twice they have been threatened with eviction from the tournament, against England and Sri Lanka, and twice they have won convincingly. Matt Hayden and Adam Gilchrist bully sides with the bat up front while Brett Lee's return from injury has given them extra pace with the ball.

Weaknesses: Without Ricky Ponting they will have to make do without their best batsman and their captain. Strangely they have looked disinterested at times, too. A defeat to Zimbabwe appeared to spark them into life but another loss to Pakistan suggested the Zim loss was not a one-off. In both games they looked powerless to stop the slide and perhaps, because in the past when the ball could be thrown to Glenn McGrath and he would get them out of the mire, they have forgotten how to make things happen themselves.

India
Strengths: Momentum. And lots of it. Their victories over England and South Africa at Kingsmead have Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side buzzing. Not least because they remain at Durban with the huge Indian population making matches there feel like
home. The swing of RP Singh and Sri Sreesanth under the Kingsmead lights could worry Australia when they meet in the semi. And we haven't mentioned the power-hitting of Yuvraj Singh yet. His six sixes from an over against Stuart Broad was an astonishing achievement and ensures from now on, in every one-day game he plays, points will be shaved off his top runscorer price.

Weaknesses: The swing of RP Singh and Sreesanth. If the pair do not have bowling conditions to exploit then India look short of options. There must be concerns about their lower order, too. Irfan Pathan is due in at No 7 and although he has scored runs in the international game historically, it was quite a while ago.