India goes into their last game ahead of the home ODI World Cup with several boxes ticked over the past week. This final fixture was meant to serve as a dress rehearsal for their first World Cup game against Australia on October 8 in Chennai, but they go into it with a severely depleted squad. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back though, and will have India’s first-ever ODI series whitewash against Australia on their agenda while adding to their momentum on the road to the showpiece event.
Australia, one of the favorites for the World Cup, has had a contrasting run of form. They arrived in India at the back after losing three successive ODIs against South Africa and have proceeded to add two more to the defeats column. Sean Abbott reckoned Australia’s dismal show in India had been down to lack of execution despite doing ‘some right things’ along the way.
Another defeat might still not mean much in the grander scheme of things as far as the World Cup is concerned for the five-time champions, but a win on Wednesday in Rajkot will do a world of good to the morale before they move to another daunting venue – Chennai – for their opener.
When: India vs Australia, 3rd ODI, September 27, 13:30 IST
Where: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
What to expect: More runs, no rain. A sunny day with temperatures touching 35 degrees Celsius is expected. The flat deck at the venue should aid batters again. In four out of the six ODI innings at the venue, the 300-mark has been breached. The last ODI there in January 2020 – incidentally between India and Australia – saw the hosts score 340 and the visitors respond with 304.
Team News:
India: While Rohit returns to lead the team, he revealed that he has just 13 players to pick from. India is depleted through a combination of resting players, a few of them going home due to personal reasons and an injury. Rohit also said that a viral fever is going around in the squad and the aim was to keep them fit and ready for the World Cup.
India will be without Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Hardik Pandya, who have all returned home, while Axar Patel is out injured and Shubman Gill has been rested. This means Rohit in reality has just 12 players to pick from.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: The visitors will have their share of returnees with regular skipper Pat Cummins coming back as well as left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc. Glenn Maxwell could be available too.
Probable XI: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.
Did You Know:
Rohit Sharma averages 59.23 against Australia in ODIs with 8 fifties and 8 hundred against this opposition.
Since 2022, Mohammed Siraj has had 32 PowerPlay wickets in the format, at an incredible economy rate of 4.16 in this phase.
What They Said:
Ashwin’s got the class, the experience of playing the sport, and handling the pressure. Just that he hasn’t played ODIs in the last year or so. You cannot take away the class or experience that the individual has over the years and in the last couple of games we saw how well he bowled. He’s got a lot of variations up his sleeve. In case there is a chance, obviously we can look at a lot of things. Hopefully, the way things are at this point it does well for us because we have all the backups and everything ready. We’ve given them enough game time. A lot of time in the middle as well so pretty much happy with how things have panned out in the last couple of weeks. – Rohit Sharma
Obviously, leading into the World Cup, it is not a position we want to be in but plenty to play for tomorrow – what the makeup of our team looks like, and what we want to take into our World Cup campaign. – Mitchell Starc
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav.
Australia Squad: Matthew Short, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey(w), Cameron Green, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Tanveer Sangha, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh.
Conclusion:
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