Australia opener Usman Khawaja has said that the loss to Afghanistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 won’t hinder their chances of winning the tournament. His words came ahead of the important Australia v India clash in St. Lucia.

If Australia loses this match, and Afghanistan defeats Bangladesh in the other encounter today, the Mitchell Marsh-led side will be eliminated from the tournament. This will mean, India and Afghanistan will proceed to the semi-finals.

If the match is washed out due to rain, India will proceed to the semis, while Australia will need to depend on the result of the Afghanistan v Bangladesh match for their fate.

"If Australia beats India and makes it to the semi-final, I think definitely, I think they can win. I think we've just got to get to the semi-final. I think we've shown over the years that we're a great knockout team. As soon as there's a knockout situation, more times than not we've won, but we've just got to get there,” Khawaja told PTI.

David Warner is playing his final international tournament for Australia and Khawaja said that Warner's retirement from international cricket will come only after Australia's campaign in the ongoing T20 World Cup ends.

"As a friend, I'd love to see him (Warner) finish on a high. He's been playing some really good cricket. It's been nice to see. You can tell he's just enjoying being out there. He's playing pretty relaxed. So he should. Yeah, it would be good to see," Khawaja said.

Marsh's leadership abilities were commended by Khawaja, who also said that his captaincy reflects the kind of guy he is.

"I think his captaincy is just him. It's him as a person. He doesn't try to be anything that he's not. He's relaxed. He goes out and plays the game, takes the game on, leads from the front, leads by his actions. So, I've enjoyed watching his captaincy," he said.

Khawaja, 37, conceded that it will be difficult for Australia to defeat India, who have been unbeaten in the tournament thus far.

"I mean, India's always a threat. They have batters left, right, and center. They have great bowlers. They have excellent spinners. They have all bases covered. They always have. I wouldn't go out and say India's so far ahead, a better team than everyone else because they're not. So I think on any day, any team can beat anyone, particularly in T20 cricket," he added.

Here is the video:

(PTI inputs)