Shaun Tait and Irfan Pathan look ahead to the series opener between India and Australia in Chennai (4:05)
Big Picture
Only soured friendships and damaged relations remained after the on-field taunts and verbal scuffles on Australia’s previous tour to India. In between, there was a darn good series of Test cricket as Australia proved the stiffest challenge to India’s immaculate home season. Apart from the format, the nature of the surfaces and a few personnel adjustments, not much will change on the limited-overs leg.
Australia’s recent ODI form has been atypically horrendous away from home. They have lost their last eight completed matches on the road, last winning one in September 2016, against Ireland. Their emphasis on rotation has meant the set-up, save captain Steven Smith and vice-captain David Warner, has consistently changed. Yet, Australia, who are coming off a resounding Test-series-levelling rout of Bangladesh in Chittagong, are never far away from finding their best, irrespective of the format.
In contrast, India have lost just three of their last 15 ODIs, all away from home. They’ve preferred wristspinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav to fingerspinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and possess two of the best end-overs specialists in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Their only apparent weakness, it seems, lies in their batting. Does Ajinkya Rahane, who could open in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, have the ability to match modern scoring standards? MS Dhoni’s finishing skills aren’t getting better, while KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav haven’t yet carved their name in any of the open spots in India’s middle order.
Form guide
India WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LLLWW
In the spotlight
How do you stop India’s master chasers Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni? In South Africa’s previous ODI series in India, captain AB de Villiers employed a 4-5 field for his tall seamers, who angled the ball into their ribs. In their defense of 270 in Rajkot, South Africa stole the game from an improbable situation. Kohli and Dhoni may or may not be susceptible to the short ball, but the point is South Africa executed a set of discernible plans while defending a middling total. Bowling without gameplans in favourable batting conditions may not be the best way to go, as Australia found out in their last ODI series in India.
Confidence is an influential factor in sport. David Warner would have gained plenty after he overcame arguably the biggest flaw in his record, scoring hundreds in the sub-continent; he scored two against Bangladesh in successive Tests in gruelling conditions. Opening the batting in ODIs in India, against hard, new balls, is every batsman’s dream, and Warner, with his attacking template, is best suited to taking advantage of the Powerplay.
Team news
With Dhawan absent for the first three games, Rahane should slot into his opening spot. With Australia – and the rest of the world – struggling to pick wristspin, Kuldeep is likely to be persisted with. Axar Patel might sit out the game, having suffered a minor injury to his left ankle while playing a warm-up game of football during India’s training session on Friday. This would mean Yuzvendra Chahal slotting in as the second spinner.
India (probable): 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Manish Pandey/KL Rahul, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
With a calf problem ruling Aaron Finch out of the first few ODIs, Travis Head might be forced to open the batting, a position he is accustomed to, having opened for South Australia. With Glenn Maxwell’s offspinning ability, Australia may stick with just one spinner.
Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Peter Handscomb, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Adam Zampa
Pitch and conditions
The surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium tends to get progressively worse for batting. The average first-innings score at this venue is 264, but with modern-day batting at its best, 300-plus totals in both innings isn’t entirely implausible. There is a forecast for thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon.
Stats and trivia
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Since January 2013, the average first-innings score in games between India and Australia is 321.
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In that same period, Rohit Sharma has scored 1104 runs in 13 matches against Australia, at an ” target=”_blank”>average of 110.4 and a strike rate of 102.88
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In the last year, India’s top three batsmen have contributed 57.6% of the team runs, while Australia’s top three have accounted for 54.5%.
Quotes
“I think India play a lot more ODI cricket than we do. I’m not sure how many games Virat has played.”
Australia captain Steven Smith on Virat Kohli’s hundreds
Source: ESPN Crickinfo