Andrew McDonald faces one of the biggest decisions of his fledgling coaching career as he weighs up whether to recall Mitchell Starc for Australia’s crunch clash with India at the T20 World Cup.

Australia’s title hopes are on thin ice following its shock 21-run loss to Afghanistan on a tough St Vincent wicket.

India top Group 1 in the Super 8s stage with two wins from two outings, leaving Australia (1-1), Afghanistan (1-1) and Bangladesh (0-2) to battle it out for second spot.

Australia faces India at Saint Lucia in its final Super 8s game on Monday (Tuesday AEST).

Starc was left out against Afghanistan to accommodate a spot for spinner Ashton Agar on a turning deck.

Agar held up his end of the bargain with an economical 0-17 off four overs, but his lack of wickets raised questions about whether it would have been better going in with the more attacking Starc.

Another option is for Starc to come in at the expense of Josh Hazlewood, who returned expensive figures of 0-39 from his four overs.