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Squad: Pat Cummins ©, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Five-time champions they may be, but gone are the days when Australia were the default winners of any World Cup that couldn't cough up a suitable challenger, at least in the men's game. Which isn't to say that they lack quality - Mitchell Starc goes into this edition as the new greatest wicket-taker in a single tournament, and could topple Glenn McGrath off another perch as the all-time best wicket-taker with 23 scalps this time round, while the weight of runs that could flow from Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Carey, late call-up Marnus Labuschagne and World Cup debutant Travis Head should comfortably carry Aus past the group stage - but when the chips are down, the boys from the bush can often choke. And the retirement of former skipper Aaron Finch from international cricket earlier in the year, passing the baton onto the same Pat Cummins who looked frequently bereft of ideas in the back half of the Ashes, isn't liable to help on that front.

World #1 bowler Josh Hazlewood, missing in 2019 due to a back injury, will return to the World Cup with gusto in the pace attack alongside Cummins and Starc, but the question mark by his name is the same hovering over so many of the Aussies: can he do it in India? Just one ODI wicket there to date suggests he may not be the solution, and in the same vein, Adam Zampa will be under enormous pressure as the frontline spinner, not least in their tournament opener against the hosts in Chennai. Yet as a team they came from behind to win March's bilateral series, bowled out for 188 in Mumbai before skittling India for even less in Visakhapatnam (Starc and Sean Abbott the pick of the bowlers), then clinching a tight, low-scoring decider in Chennai where Zampa took 4-45 to tear through the middle order. Repeat that performance on the tournament's first weekend and the spirit of '87 might just come flooding back for these slumbering giants.

Highest World Cup total: 417-6 vs Afghanistan (Perth, 2015)
Lowest World Cup total: 129 vs India (Chelmsford, 1983)
Highest World Cup innings: 178, David Warner vs Afghanistan (Perth, 2015)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 7-15, Glenn McGrath vs Namibia (Potchefstroom, 2003)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Ricky Ponting, 1,743 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Glenn McGrath, 71 wickets


Tournament Schedule: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh