MOHALI: The Southern Stars' quest for a fourth World Twenty20 title hasn't been without its hiccups. First they lost to New Zealand, then on Sunday, during a day trip from Delhi to the Taj Mahal, their driver rear-ended their police escort. 
It was a minor bingle, and like the defeat to the White Ferns, one which they were able to recover from and continue on their journey, just with a change of plans.
"It's going to take a little bit longer to get there now because we're a little bit slower, about 40kmh," Australian opener Elyse Villani said from the road to Agra on Sunday. "The oil is leaking a little bit."
Australia hope the leaks in their title defence have been plugged after successive wins over Sri Lanka and Ireland that qualified them for the semi-finals, with their opponent in Delhi on Wednesday being determined by the results from Sunday's group games.
They are advantaged by having played their past two matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the capital, the latest a seven-wicket win over the Irish.
"I think it's great that we definitely know the conditions on the ground and we've worked a few things out there in the past couple of games," Villani said. 
"So I think that will be really helpful for the semi-final but at the same time the wicket that we played on [on Saturday] was quite different to the wicket we played on against Sri Lanka. It's still just about summing up conditions as quickly as possible but we've got a bit of a winning feel at that ground at the moment so hopefully it continues."
After an unhappy start to the tournament Villani herself has fired with the 26-year-old adding 43 against Ireland to the unbeaten 53 she posted against Sri Lanka. 
"I was disappointed with the first two games from a personal point of view," she said. 
"I know that I've been hitting them quite well in the nets so it was nice to contribute more at the top of the order. That's my job."
A rematch against New Zealand in the WT20 final is now on the cards and the Australians, having lost a series to the White Ferns ahead of this tournament as well as their group stage clash, will be eager for payback if the two are pitted against each other in the final.
"We haven't been playing our best cricket against New Zealand lately. Obviously the series in New Zealand was pretty disappointing," Villani said. 
"But I think we're finally getting a bit of formula. If we come up against New Zealand again we'll be in a better place and definitely be hoping to right a couple of wrongs."