Australia face moment of truth

The world's number one Test side have got one of the beefiest batting line-ups in the game - David Warner, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin - healthy, even in the absence of Symonds. Their bowling attack looks good on paper as well- Mitchell Johnson with his newly acquired inswinger, Nathan Bracken, the top one-day bowler on the ICC rankings, and Brett Lee form one of the meaner pace trios in the game. And their fielding has always been sharp, irrespective of the length of the game.

What, then, is with Ponting's men and Twenty20 cricket? Their record, so intimidating otherwise, gets watered down as the length of the game shrinks. In the 22 T20 internationals they have played during and since the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 championship, they have won 11 and lost 11. Not quite the stuff world champions are made of.

Initially, T20 cricket was considered a bit of a joke Down Under, where the teams turned up in retro kits with nicknames on their backs to have a bit of a laugh. After getting knocked out of the first edition by an inspired India in the semi-finals, Ponting had admitted that the team hadn't really taken the tournament too seriously.

This time though, the team will have no such excuses. Australia have not been as obsessed with the Ashes as England have, and a fair chunk of their players did play, and did reasonably well, in the IPL.

The Lankans will be licking their lips at the prospect of knocking the one-day world champions out of the tournament when they meet on Monday. There's been little love lost between these two sides over the years and Australia are well and truly cornered. Kumar Sangakkara played down past animosity, saying the Lankan side's focus was on winning every game, and not particularly on knocking the Australians out. "Every game we play is a must-win game. We're just making sure that we are driven enough to win," he said.

However, Sangakkara feels they will have to fight harder, as the Australians have no choice but to come out all guns blazing.

This tournament's group of death was always going to see one big team getting knocked out. Will it be the biggest of the lot?