Edge with Australia after Indian summer

They then faced Australia in an unofficial 50-over match on February 8 in Adelaide, and were thrashed by 106 runs.

But the 2011 world champions have since gone on a six-match winning streak and are now unbeaten in their past 11 World Cup matches.

Hazlewood took 2-25 from six overs in the warm-up match in Adelaide and also bowled five overs in a rained-out ODI against the Indians in Sydney on Australia Day, and he says those experiences, plus Australia's 2-0 Test series victory earlier in the summer, will hold both he and his teammates in good stead in the semi-final.

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Hazlewood during the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series // Getty

"We've obviously played them a lot this summer in both formats so I’d say we have the wood over them a little bit in that regard, winning the tri-series, so we’ll be doing our homework, doing our normal thing and getting prepared," Hazlewood said after Australia’s six-wicket quarter-final win over Pakistan on Friday.

"(But a) lot of their players have been playing for a while so they’ve got that experience in big tournaments, and I think they really peak at the right time, so they’ll be really tough work on Thursday."

Skipper Michael Clarke was also wary of an Indian team that has spent almost four months in Australia and has shown a serious form reversal since the beginning of the World Cup.

"India are a completely different opposition to Pakistan," Clarke said.

"They have different strengths, also different weaknesses, so we need to assess them.

"They’re obviously playing a lot better than they were at the start of the summer, and I said leading into the World Cup that India were going to be an extremely tough team to beat; obviously because they’re a very good team, but because they’ve spent so much time in Australia as well, they know the conditions quite well, so that game on Thursday is certainly going to be a challenge."

Hazlewood stars with the ball in quarter-final win

Hazlewood was man-of-the-match on Friday in Adelaide, and hopes his 4-35 will be a key factor for selectors when it comes to determining the make-up of Australia's XI for the semi-final.

The right-armer bowled six overs unchanged to start the innings, taking 1-18, before returning late on for two seperate two-over spells that yielded 1-14 and 2-3 respectively.

The 24-year-old was recalled for the Pakistan clash in place of Pat Cummins and the Blues pacemen are again expected to jostle for selection for Thursday's match at the SCG.

Spinner Xavier Doherty could also be in line for a recall after he was picked ahead of the two fast men for Australia's pool match at the ground against Sri Lanka.

"I hope I've gone a long way to doing that (cementing his spot), but you never know with conditions at the SCG, they could be dry and suit a spinner," he said.

"I was obviously pretty happy with how I bowled straight up with the new ball and got most of my overs out then, but I was happy to come back for those couple of other spells and take wickets and keep the ball rolling."

The New South Welshman was also hopeful – though not confident – that SCG curator Tom Parker would prepare a pace-friendly track, given the two teams’ respective strengths and weaknesses.

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Hazlewood celebrates a wicket during the SCG Test // Getty

"He (Parker) didn’t do us any favours in the (drawn) Test match there (against India), but we’d obviously like some grass on (the pitch) to suit our quicks," he said. 

"As 'Pup' (Clarke) said, it would help us, with them having a couple of spinners and us favouring the quicks."

The first two matches at the SCG in this World Cup were high-scoring affairs; South Africa posted 5-408 against West Indies before Sri Lanka scored 312 in response to Australia's first innings of 9-376.

England then recorded a nine-wicket win over Afganistan on March 13, but the low-scoring affair had as much to do with the heavy overhead conditions as the greenish tinge on the surface.

Ball dominated bat in South Africa's quarter-final win over Sri Lanka on Wednesday, with Proteas spinners Imran Tahir (4-26) and JP Duminy (3-29) doing most of the damage.