After India beat New Zealand on Sunday to set up Tuesday's clash at the Dubai International Stadium, it was revealed that opener and useful spinner Short, who suffered a left quad injury while fielding in the washout against Afghanistan, was out and replaced by allrounder Cooper Connolly.
On a Dubai pitch taking some turn, Connolly's spinning prowess could now see him pitched straight into the fray for what looks a blockbuster World Cup final rematch, even though the 21-year-old has only played three ODIs.
Steve Smith's team had decided to fly to the UAE from their Lahore base on Saturday, knowing they might have to jet back again to Pakistan on Monday, depending on the result of the India-NZ clash.
But after India's 44-run win, the decision for the world champs to take the early flight and get in some crucial preparation was completely vindicated.
If they had only taken the three-hour flight to the Gulf on Monday morning after finally nailing down their schedule, the Australians might not even have had time to practice there before being pitched into the semi less than 24 hours later.
Having gone straight to practice at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Sunday while still in the dark over who they'd be playing, spinner Adam Zampa made it sound as if the Australians weren't too put out by a competition itinerary that clearly favours India.Â
"Obviously, we've had a bit of a hectic schedule, playing a couple of games in Pakistan, back and forth, in between cities," said Zampa.
"But with the nature of this tournament, not knowing where we are for this first semi-final, it's kind of nice to get here, we've got a great facility here. Changes it up a little bit as well. So the boys are feeling OK about it."
Still, India's refusal to play any matches in neighbouring Pakistan has ensured they've played all three matches - and now won all three - at the Dubai arena already, giving them an undeniable advantage.
Conditions there are very different, slower and trickier, to those that Smith's more inexperienced side have been dealing with in Lahore, where they beat England and then were dominating against Afghanistan before rain forced an abandonment. Their other match in Rawalpindi against South Africa was washed out.
New Zealand, who will be playing at their fourth different venue in Lahore in Wednesday's other semi-final against South Africa, found the transition to play in Dubai too tricky against India's spinners on Sunday.
They could muster only 205 in their chase, as the Indian spinners took nine wickets between them, headed by the five-wicket haul of mystery tweaker Varun Chakravarthy.
But Australia's leading spinner Zampa shrugs: "Our preparation has been OK. In these tournaments, you don't play a lot of games anyway, so each game is pretty cut-throat.
"A massive win against England set us up for the rest of the tournament, and the bowling performance was pretty good against Afghanistan.
"But the tournament really starts now in the semi-finals, even more cut-throat."
India captain Rohit Sharma was enthused about the prospect of another titanic encounter with their old rivals, saying: "Australia we know has a rich history of playing ICC tournaments well, we do understand that.
"It's going to be a great contest, we're all looking forward to it."
