With first game already washed out because of heavy rain the Kochi, the ODI series between India and Australia has been reduced to two match one day series and whoever wins the 2nd ODI will know that they can’t lose the series by any means. Both teams have quite a few youngster and they have great opportunity to prove their inclusion in the international teams. Players like R.Ashwin and Mitchell Starc will be eager to cement their place in the team to get a chance in the upcoming world cup to be held in Asia. Ravinder Jadeja, whose inclusion in the squad is already questioned by many Indian fans, will be eager to prove his worth for the team. He knows that its now or never, he has failed to leave up to the expectation of his captain M.S.Dhoni with the bat. When he first came into the team, he was more known as batting all-rounder but so far he has failed to perform with the bat. Both teams are missing some of their key players but between these two teams one can expect a high intensity games. India will be without the service of some of their star players like Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh but they have enough to give the Australians think tank more than headache in the three match series. Australians on the other hand will be lead by M.Clarke and they will be eager to take revenge by winning the ODI series. Australia looks more settled and depth side on paper but India is also not far behind and with home crowd cheering team India it will be interesting battle between these two teams. Australians Captain Michael Clarke after accumulating just 35 runs in the recently concluded test series will be eager to score runs for his team and lead the side to win the series. Australia have not lost a single ODI series since 1998 in India and M.S.Dhoni needs to put his thinking cap on for this short three match ODI series. All in all, an interesting battle is on the card between two fighting teams. Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 14:30 PM India Time) With regular openers missing from the squad it’s likely that M.Vijay will open the innings with the debutant Shikhar Dhawan. In middle order Rohit Sharma is likely to get a chance ahead of Virat Kohli. India Squad: M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (Captain and WK), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel. Australia Squad: David Warner, Tim Paine (WK), Michael Clarke (Captain), Callum Ferguson, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz, Clint McKay, Mitchell Starc. |
