By Paresh Soni BBC Sport in Grenada

Muralitharan's omission surprised the Australians in Grenada

Australia captain Ricky Ponting says Sri Lanka's decision to rest key players in their World Cup Super 8 game may cost them later in the tournament.

Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas were both rested as the Aussies won by seven wickets in Grenada.

"They've got to take a big loss like that into a semi-final game just around the corner.

"If we play them again they have to bounce back from what we've done to them," said Ponting.

"We won with eight overs to spare so that's a pretty big loss for the next time they have to front up against us."

Speculation has been rife that Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody was keen to hold back star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to prevent Australia's batsmen having time against him in the middle.

But Ponting insists they know everything they need to know about him already and will be ready for whatever he comes up with if the teams meet in the final.

"I would have thought it was a good opportunity for him to have a crack at our batsmen," the Aussie skipper added.

"It doesn¿t worry our batters at all. We have played him a lot, have lots of footage on him, and know pretty much the way he goes about things.

"We play him as well as anybody around the world and it would have been a good opportunity for him to get stuck into us and take some wickets."

When key players don't play in key games, you can lose momentum and you can lose confidence Andrew Symonds

Ponting's view was echoed by team-mate Andrew Symonds, who helped finish Sri Lanka off with an unbeaten 63.

"When key players don't play in key games, you can lose momentum and you can lose confidence. It's certainly not the way we would have done it - but I guess they're not the same team as us," said Symonds.

He shared a stand of 106 with skipper Ponting as Australia cruised to their target of 227 with seven overs to spare.

And the Queensland all-rounder said: "We're very happy with how we dealt with that today. There's not a player on our team who didn't contribute.

"The training facilities we've had over the last two weeks have been very good, so they boys are in very good form."

Symonds said that Michael Hussey and Brad Hodge, who have been short of batting practice because of Australia's top order strength, had the ability to perform if called upon to do so.