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India cannot win the World Cup if they do not beat Australia: Gautam Gambhir

image-l87kiiliVirat Kohli after leading India to victory in the 2016 T20 WC [PC: Twitter]

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has said that the upcoming three T20Is against world champions Australia will be crucial to the Rohit Sharma-led unit's fortunes as he believes that the Men in Blue can't win the silverware without getting past the Aussies.

India are all set to host the Aaron Finch-led unit in three T20Is later this week. The opening game will take place in Mohali on September 20 before the caravan moves to Nagpur (September 23) and Hyderabad (September 25).

This, and the three T20Is against South Africa later this month, will be extremely crucial for India as they aim to finalize their best XI ahead of the marquee event.

But, apart from zeroing on the best possible XI, the series will also be important for India in terms of getting a psychological edge over the Australians, feels Gambhir.

The former opener cited the examples of 2007 T20 World Cup and the 50-over event in 2011, where India beat Australia in semi-finals and finals respectively before claiming the silverware. 

Here's what Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports:

"I have said this earlier and I am saying this again. India cannot win the (T20) World Cup if they do not beat Australia. I mean, look at the 2007 T20 World Cup. We defeated them in the semi-finals. In the 2011 ODI World Cup, we thrashed them in the quarter-finals. Australia is one of the most competitive teams out there and you will have to beat them if you want to win any competition,"

India and Australia have faced off 5 times in T20 World Cups

While the Men in Blue emerged victorious in 2007, 2014 and 2016, the Australians thumped the MS Dhoni-led outfit ruthlessly in the 2010 and 2012 edition.

India's crushing defeat to Australia in the Super-8 fixture of the 2012 event also paved way for their premature exit despite them dropping just 1 game in the entire competition. 4 years later, India returned by the favor by knocking the Aussies out thanks to a masterclass from the legendary Virat Kohli.

In terms of bilateral T20I series in India between these two nations, India are yet to beat the Aussies in 2 attempts (excluding the one-off T20Is in 2007 and 2013, which India won)

While the 2017 rubber ended on 1-1 stalemate thanks to rain, Australia won the two-match series 2-0 in 2019.

That 2019 series remains the last bilateral T20I rubber that India have dropped since then.

Rohit Sharma & co will have a chance to stage their redemption this week.

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