Cape Town: Thursday will see one of the two title favourites – Australia and Sri Lanka – going back home after being knocked out of the ICC World Twenty20 here. For Australia, Ricky Ponting's withdrawal from this tournament due to hamstring injury will be a huge setback.

Ponting suffered a hamstring strain while batting during Australia's six-wicket loss to Pakistan at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

Australia's physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Ponting's injury could keep him out of the game for four weeks, making him an unlikely starter for the seven-match one-day series in India starting on September 29. "Over the next three to five days we will have a much better indication of where it's heading, so we will know whether he will have to go home or be able to go to India," Kountouris told reporters.

"Hopefully, he will take some part in the series in India. The best case scenario is a couple of weeks. The worst case scenario is four weeks." Kountouris said Ponting strained his hamstring while running between the wickets against Pakistan.

"He just took off for a run and felt it a bit," the physiotherapist said. "He was stretching his left leg because he was not sure if there was a problem. I don't think he has had a hamstring strain before. He wasn't really sure what it feels like."

Players from Australia and Sri Lanka have been stressing that beauty of this format of the game ensures a leveled playing field for all the teams.

In spite of being vastly experienced and having seen ups and downs of cricket closely, little would the Australian and Lankan players have realised a week ago that the format would come back to haunt them.

Australia started off miserably, losing to Zimbabwe , but made a strong comeback against Bangladesh and England . Sri Lanka on the other hand decimated all comers, rattling up record scores against Kenya and thumping a strong opponent like New Zealand on the way.

Even as the pundits were predicting another Australia versus Sri Lanka World Cup final in the same year, both the teams met their nemesis in a new-look Pakistan.

Led by a 25-year-old young man – Shoaib Malik – the Pakistan team sprang a few surprises in the form of unorthodox seamer Sohail Tanvir and batsmen Mohamed Hafeez alongside Misbah ul-Haq to down both Sri Lanka and Australia with relative ease.

Having won both their Super 8 clashes and still a game to go against Bangladesh, Pakistan have booked their place in the semi-finals, leaving Sri Lanka and Australia to fight for the second spot from Group F.

Thursday's clash is not just about Lankan batting versus Australian bowling. In T20, such things simply cannot exist. Australia's top order batting is giving stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist severe headaches, while Mahela Jayawardene worries about whom to throw the ball once Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando are through with their four overs.

Against Pakistan, after a brilliant start, Sri Lanka allowed the middle order to tonk away at the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Lasith Malinga. Australian batsmen, on the other hand, are on a roller-coaster form. Down one day, on a high the next day, again down the following game.

Australia bowling still looks alright, and hat-trick man Brett Lee is capable of rattling any top order. The likes of Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson – the two left-arm seamers – backed by Stuart Clark have come off well. But defending totals below 160 in this format of the game can be a challenge for bowlers of the highest quality.

The Pakistan game also exposed a chink in the Lankan batting. If their top order batsmen like Jayasuriya and especially the duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene get knocked over, they will surely struggle.

The Lankans function on an almost set pattern while batting. Jayasuriya hits a few lusty blows, setting the platform, and then Sangakkara just dominates the bowling. Jayawardene comes in later and swings it merrily to rack up huge totals.

It was for the first time in this tournament that the Lankan batting came under pressure – against Pakistan -- and it wilted. The wily Australians would have certainly taken a note of that, and on their parts, the Lankans would be busy strategizing against the vulnerable Australian batsmen.

If there is anything like a psychological edge over the opponents in this format of the game, then Australians will have a definite edge there. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 wounds would still be fresh, and the Aussies would dearly want to open a few of those.

Maybe, just maybe, Gilchrist can once again walk out with a few squash balls in his batting gloves!

Cape Town: Thursday will see one of the two title favourites – Australia and Sri Lanka – going back home after being knocked out of the ICC World Twenty20 here. For Australia, Ricky Ponting's withdrawal from this tournament due to hamstring injury will be a huge setback.

Ponting suffered a hamstring strain while batting during Australia's six-wicket loss to Pakistan at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

Australia's physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Ponting's injury could keep him out of the game for four weeks, making him an unlikely starter for the seven-match one-day series in India starting on September 29. "Over the next three to five days we will have a much better indication of where it's heading, so we will know whether he will have to go home or be able to go to India," Kountouris told reporters.

"Hopefully, he will take some part in the series in India. The best case scenario is a couple of weeks. The worst case scenario is four weeks." Kountouris said Ponting strained his hamstring while running between the wickets against Pakistan.

"He just took off for a run and felt it a bit," the physiotherapist said. "He was stretching his left leg because he was not sure if there was a problem. I don't think he has had a hamstring strain before. He wasn't really sure what it feels like."

Players from Australia and Sri Lanka have been stressing that beauty of this format of the game ensures a leveled playing field for all the teams.

In spite of being vastly experienced and having seen ups and downs of cricket closely, little would the Australian and Lankan players have realised a week ago that the format would come back to haunt them.

Australia started off miserably, losing to Zimbabwe , but made a strong comeback against Bangladesh and England . Sri Lanka on the other hand decimated all comers, rattling up record scores against Kenya and thumping a strong opponent like New Zealand on the way.

Even as the pundits were predicting another Australia versus Sri Lanka World Cup final in the same year, both the teams met their nemesis in a new-look Pakistan.

Led by a 25-year-old young man – Shoaib Malik – the Pakistan team sprang a few surprises in the form of unorthodox seamer Sohail Tanvir and batsmen Mohamed Hafeez alongside Misbah ul-Haq to down both Sri Lanka and Australia with relative ease.

Having won both their Super 8 clashes and still a game to go against Bangladesh, Pakistan have booked their place in the semi-finals, leaving Sri Lanka and Australia to fight for the second spot from Group F.

Thursday's clash is not just about Lankan batting versus Australian bowling. In T20, such things simply cannot exist. Australia's top order batting is giving stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist severe headaches, while Mahela Jayawardene worries about whom to throw the ball once Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando are through with their four overs.

Against Pakistan, after a brilliant start, Sri Lanka allowed the middle order to tonk away at the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Lasith Malinga. Australian batsmen, on the other hand, are on a roller-coaster form. Down one day, on a high the next day, again down the following game.

Australia bowling still looks alright, and hat-trick man Brett Lee is capable of rattling any top order. The likes of Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson – the two left-arm seamers – backed by Stuart Clark have come off well. But defending totals below 160 in this format of the game can be a challenge for bowlers of the highest quality.

The Pakistan game also exposed a chink in the Lankan batting. If their top order batsmen like Jayasuriya and especially the duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene get knocked over, they will surely struggle.

The Lankans function on an almost set pattern while batting. Jayasuriya hits a few lusty blows, setting the platform, and then Sangakkara just dominates the bowling. Jayawardene comes in later and swings it merrily to rack up huge totals.

It was for the first time in this tournament that the Lankan batting came under pressure – against Pakistan -- and it wilted. The wily Australians would have certainly taken a note of that, and on their parts, the Lankans would be busy strategizing against the vulnerable Australian batsmen.

If there is anything like a psychological edge over the opponents in this format of the game, then Australians will have a definite edge there. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 wounds would still be fresh, and the Aussies would dearly want to open a few of those.

Maybe, just maybe, Gilchrist can once again walk out with a few squash balls in his batting gloves!