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Australia captain Pat Cummins is sure the five-time World Cup winners can use past experience of the big occasion to their advantage when they take on South Africa in Kolkata.<\/p>\n
Cummins\u2019 side are on a roll since losing against tournament hosts India and their opponents on Thursday, winning their remaining seven group-stage matches to storm into yet another semi-final.<\/p>\n
South Africa might have prevailed in Lucknow and in an ODI series between the teams in September, but Australia have significantly more experience than the Proteas in the knockouts of a major tournament.<\/p>\n
Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were part of the 2015 trophy-winning campaign as well as the T20 World Cup triumph two years ago.<\/p>\n
The Australia captain said: \u201cWhat helps us is we\u2019ve got a lot of guys that have been in this situation before that have won one-day World Cup, T20 World Cup, various other tournaments in big moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can draw on that in the middle of the contest. Obviously you start from scratch every time you play. They\u2019re a team we\u2019ve played quite a lot and know quite well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this week it\u2019s probably going to be quite different to say the South African series that we just played against them a couple of months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia memorably knocked out South Africa at the same stage in 1999 at Edgbaston, where a tied match went the way of Steve Waugh\u2019s side because they finished higher in the group stage on net run-rate.<\/p>\n
The finale is one of the most replayed of all-time as Allan Donald was chaotically run out, despite South Africa still having two balls in which to get the solitary run they needed for victory.<\/p>\n
Cummins said: \u201cIt\u2019s kind of folklore, isn\u2019t it? I\u2019ve seen that replay heaps of times, you hear the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia have steadily grown in confidence in India, emboldened by Maxwell\u2019s rescue act against Afghanistan as his 201 not out secured a dramatic win and was widely hailed as the best ODI knock ever.<\/p>\n
Marsh ensured a seventh straight victory with an unbeaten 177 against Bangladesh, so Australia will head into their Eden Gardens showdown with plenty of optimism.<\/p>\n
Cummins added: \u201cAs a team you grow an extra leg because you feel like you can win a match from anywhere and having someone like Maxi in your team is just a complete luxury. He\u2019s a superstar, he\u2019s a freak.\u201d<\/p>\n