After loosing the sixth match of the series at Nagpur by 18 runs now India needs to put some good display in front of the same Mumbai crowds which has given them great welcome when they have returned home after winning Twenty20 World Cup. Indian captain M.S Dhoni is under lots of pressure after loosing the series and he needs to improve his team in all department of the game, if he wants to beat the Aussies in last two remaining matches (One ODI & One twenty20) both to be played at Mumbai. In the last match Indians middle order was not able to deliver the knockout punch they needed to beat the Aussies. Indians have one good thing going in their favor is their Opening batsman are playing really well. However the big headaches for the Indian think tank is their depth bowling is really poor in all the matches and one batsman who is known as Wall of Indian cricket team is not playing well. The Indians are likely to rest their past skipper Rahul Dravid in the last ODI and give a chance to local lads Rohit Sharma. The wicket at Mumbai is also good batting wickets like Nagpur with some help for the bowlers. Former Indian opening batsman and pitch curator, Sudhir Naik, said the Wankhede wicket for the seventh and final One-Day match between India and Australia under flood-lights would be a sporting wicket. "If the batsmen can see-off the early part of the innings, they too can prosper in the middle and it should be 250-plus wicket," Naik added. The Twenty20 World Champions have lost their previous two outings against the Aussies at Wankhede and will be looking forward to make amends and restore some pride with a win giving their bench strength a look-in before another important series against their arch rivals Pakistan from November five. Another tough choice for Dhoni is to final playing XI especially for his bowling department except Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Karthik. Sinze Zaheer & S. Sreesanth both were wayward and so Dhoni might opt for R.P Singh in place of Zaheer Khan. On the other hand, Australians who have a tremendous record against India winning 55 of their 89 ODI matches and losing just 28 with six producing no results, might opt for a new opening pair of Adam Gilchrist and Brad Haddin, resting the hard hitting Matthew Hayden, so that he will be fresh and fully fit for the Twenty20 encounter following the ODI series at the Brabourne Stadium on October 20 before flying back home. Match will start from 2.30 PM (Indian Time which will be Day/Night Encounter) Likely Playing XI for Both teams: Indian Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, R. Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, R.P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Murali Karthik, Harbhajan Singh Australian Squad: Adam Gilchrist (WK), Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting (C), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, JR Hopes, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuark Clark. |
