ICC World T20: Against India, Watson expects the 'ultimate challenge'

Mohali: Australia were clinical in finishing Pakistan on Friday. A little tweak in the batting order and marginal fine-tuning here and there, and all the blocks fitted pretty much as Steve Smith would have wanted. The result was a neat 21-run win and a knockout date with India.

With New Zealand already through to the semi-finals from Group 2 and India and Australia standing at two wins apiece with one game to play, the equation is pretty simple - win the face-off and book a place in the semis.

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Both the teams lost to the Kiwis, both beat Pakistan and Bangladesh; however, the nature of their wins is in striking contrast. But still Shane Watson sees a meeting with India in India as the "ultimate challenge" on a cricket field.

"It would have been nice if Bangladesh held their nerves a little bit better, but they didn't," Watson said on a lighter note after Australia beat Pakistan.

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"It is the ultimate challenge to play India in any format in India. If you can beat India on Indian soil in any format, it's an incredible achievement. So everyone in the Australian team knows that. I certainly know that from plenty of experience here, so it's just going to be a great challenge and we certainly are going to be up for it," said the veteran allrounder.

Two days back Watson announced he would retire from international cricket at the end of the tournament, which means the game against India could be his last should Australia go on to lose it.

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"From my personal perspective, to be in an opportunity to be able to play in what could be my last game is, I suppose, as big a dream as you could imagine - playing India at home on Indian soil, it's going to be very exciting," he said.

Before India's game against Bangladesh, all the talks circled around the net run-rate, which could have come into play to decide the second semi-finalist from Group 2. But Australia made the math a lot easier by knocking out Pakistan.

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"It's good that it has come down to a simple equation. It certainly gets you up for the game. In a knockout game, it's as simple as it comes. I know there will be a little of chaos in a knockout game.

"In big games it comes down to your mental approach more than anything. Skills don't change, and the biggest challenge mentally is how you try to hold your nerves when the pressure comes on, which is certainly going to happen in a knockout game," said Watson.

The allrounder then highlighted the fact how home conditions play a vital role and lifts the hosts, which was evident in the 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups.

Recently with the one-day world cup, we certainly did that [winning] at home. We also know India did very well at home in 2011 as well. They have got a few of the similar players. So it's going to be a great game," he reckoned.

And there's also a bit of history going into the winner-takes-all battle.

India swept Australia 3-0 in a T20I series on their recent tour Down Under, which will certainly be at the back of every Australian's mind, and if they manage to upsey the home team's party, it will be the perfect way to avenge that defeat.

So the March 27 showdown has all the ingredients to turn into a best-seller.