Pakistan cricket team will be arriving here in India on Thursday to face the real battle against the Indian cricket team. India is flying high on confidence after beating Australians in last two outings.
Geoff Lawson, 49, said Pakistan "would have been better off" for the India tour had they beaten world number two team South Africa in their recent home One-Day series. Pakistan also lost the Test series, one-nil.
Pakistan recently lost both test series 1-0 and ODI series by 2-3 against South Africa in their back yard. However they feel strengthened after return of rawalpindi express Shoiab Akhtar.
Shoiab Akhtar who took 4 wickets in the last ODI against South Africans are really excited to face the battle in India.
Pakistan will play five matches ODI series followed by three match test series. The one day series commence from November 5th.
Indian team has also been decalred few days back, the most shocking announcement in exclusion of Wall (Rahul Dravid) from the team.
Whatever the result but we are ready for the real heart beating battles between arch rivals India and Pakistan.
Here is the list of players arriving here to face another real and heart beating battles against Indian Cricket team:
Indian Squad for 1st two ODI’s: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, S Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan Singh.
Pakistan team schedule to play five One day International (ODI) and three test matches against India in India.
Pakistan in India
Pakistan in India
Monday, Nov 5, 2007 : 1st ODI at Guwahati
Thursday, Nov 8, 2007 : 2nd ODI at Mohali
Sunday, Nov 11, 2007 : 3rd ODI at Kanpur
Thursday, Nov 15, 2007 : 4th ODI at Gwalior
Sunday, Nov 18, 2007 : 5th ODI at Jaipur
Thursday, Nov 22-26, 2007 : 1st Test at Delhi
Friday, Nov 30 - Dec 4, 2007 : 2nd Test at Kolkata
Indian team has been picked for the first two ODI’s to be played against Pakistan from November 5th 2007. Virendra Sehwag finally gets back in to the Indian squad after three months of struggle.
However former Indian Skipper Rahul Dravid has been left out from the 15 member squad. Announcing the team in Ahmedabad during the ongoing Challenger Series, Chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar said that former skipper Rahul Dravid has given the rest for the first two ODI and he may recall to the team. We have given him as rest after the poor outing with the bat against Australians.
M.S. Dhoni has been retained as Indian ODI captain while Yuvraj Singh is also able to retained his Voice Captaincy position.
Dinesh Karthik who batted really well in the test series against England in England but fail to make any impact in One Day series or Twenty20 International was also dropped from the team. However, another wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel, who kept the selectors on their toes, failed to make the cut either.
Left Handed Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir also returned to the team after missing last four One dayers against Australians due to hamstring injury, but middle order bat S Badrinath from Tamil Nadu is also not able to make it to 15 member squad.. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik who performed exceptionally well both with bat and ball in the seventh ODI at Mumbai against Aussies able to retain his place in the team.
Virendra Sehwag really impressed the selectors with his cracking inning of 75 of 57 balls in the ongoing series against India Green.
Praveen Kumar really impress Indian selector both with bat and bowl in the current on going challenger series got his first chance to be in the 15 member Indian squad.
Indian team for First two ODIs vs Pakistan: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar.
India Blue middle order batsman Suresh Raina played an outstanding knock of 92 runs and Joginder Sharma 3-30 helped India Blue to register win in their opening games. With some irresponsible batting from Indian Red middle order batsman they lost the match in the last five overs.
Earlier India Blue Captain Virendra Sehwag won the toss and elected to bat first. But his team got of to disastrous start by loosing four quick wickets for just 41 runs on the board. However U.P lad Suresh Raina (92 of 100 balls) and Neeraj Patel (35 of 53 balls) kept their cool and batted sensibly to put on 87 runs for the fifth wicket, before Neeraj Patel got out in trying to accelerate the scoring rate.
Lower order of India Blue also batted well, Joginder Sharma (27 runs of 33 balls), Amit Mishra (29 of 31 balls) and Ramesh Pawar (21 of 13 balls) to help their team to reach the score of 246/10 in 49.3 overs.
The pick of the bowler from India Red was Praveen Kumar who put on an all round performance both with bowl (10-0-42-4) and bat (37 runs of 30 balls).
Chasing a comparative total of 247, India Red lost their opener Gautam Gambhir very quickly when he was run out by Virendra Sehwag for nought. However Indian Red skipper Mohammed Kaif (42 runs of 59 balls), though, played sensibly and hit some good strokes but his vigil was ended by Joginder Sharma.
India Blue not just kept taking wickets at regular intervals but bowled some disciplined line to always keep the run rate in check.
However Mahesh Rawat (47 runs of 64 balls) and Praveen Kumar (37 runs of 30 balls) batted beautifully to help their team to reach closer to the target by putting 62 runs for the sixth wicket. Praveen Kumar batted with aggression but lack of experience shows in his batting when he got out on the bowling of Virendra Sehwag in the process of hitting him for six in successive deliveries.
Thereafter, it’s all the way India Blue who finally won the match by 12 runs.
The first match of challenger series will be played from todays and it will be great for the youngster to make some impression in the eyes of selector before Pakistan series which begins from November 5th.
In this year challenger series several best players of India is given a rest for the home turf tournament. The players who are rested are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, R. P. Singh, Irfan Pathan.
This is the only series from which selector have to decide about Indian best playing team against Pakistan and Australia tour.
The best thing about the youngster is that they are not playing against some of the big star and it’s time for them to prove themselves against some of their senior pro. This series is really matters for one man (Virendra Sehwag) who is struggling to make come back into the ODI and test team. Virendra Sehwag was out of the team after Bangladesh tour. He is hoping to play well in this series to impress the selector before big series.
The schedule of Challenger Series is as follows (All Matches is Day/Night Encounter which starts from 14:30 PMIndia Time): Oct 25: India Red v/s India Blue (D/N) Oct 26: India Green v/s India Red (D/N) Oct 27: India Green v/s India Blue (D/N) Oct 28: Final (D/N)
Indians the Twenty20 World Champions beat Aussies by 7 wickets with the help of Gautam Gambhir half century and some responsible batting display by Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh.
Chasing a target of 167 for victory Indian didn’t have the start they wanted, they lost Virendra Sehwag when Indian score was 20 in the 3rd over. However Gautam Gambhir (63 runs of 52 balls) and Robin Uthappa (35 runs of 26 balls) batted really well to put 82 runs for the second wicket. However Robin Uthappa falls when he was on 35.
Yuvraj contributed with a fine unbeaten 31 off just 25 balls with a four and three sixes while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored nine off five balls with a single six that got the winning runs for the hosts.
Earlier Australian Captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat first.
Aussie vice-captain Adam Gilchrist set the tone for the visitors with three boundaries, in the very first over, before Rudra Pratap Singh bowled him for 12. Ponting then joined Hayden and added 48 runs for the second wicket before Harbhajan Singh bowled the latter for 17 off 19 balls.
Ricky Ponting played superbly to make an impressive half century (76 runs of 53 balls). However an Indian bowler who is playing twenty20 for the first time on their home soil did well to restrict the Australian to 166. Especially Harbhajan Singh bowls beautifully in his four over spell to give only 17 runs and picked one wickets.
Despite losing the ODI series by 2-4, India the twenty20 world champions start as favorites to win the one of twenty20 to be played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.
Indian team will play with their full twenty20 squad who manage to won first twenty20 world cup earlier in South Africa. Statistics also favoring Indians for this match, they have played eight twenty20 matches and won six matches with one loss against New Zealand and one match is drawn against Scotland.
However on the other hand Australia has played 11 matches and only manages to win 5 of their matches so far.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be looking forward to a good start from his openers Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who is coming back from an injury lay-off.
Yuvraj Singh is another player to watch out for, since he was one of the most destructive batsman in the twenty20 world cup hitting six sixes in an over of England pace bowler Stuart Broad.
Indians have Robin Uthappa who is another dashing and hard hitting batsman to watch out for, the good times have rolled on, as he's played a couple of exciting and critical knocks in different positions in the batting order in the 50-over format. When asked if it was easy to play this floating role, Uthappa said: "It's easy if you keep an open mind. You should not think: 'I'm fit to play in one position or another.' If you have an open mind anything is possible. If you want to do it for your team you'll do it."
In twenty20 squad Indians have bunch of all rounder like Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma and they can turn the table in their favor when it matters most.
Indian may opt to go with two spinners for this match with two pace bowlers (Irfan and R.P Singh), Murali Karthik has taken into the team in place of injured Piyush Chawla.
However, it would be wise if the team’s think-tank decides for one specialist spinner as both Sehwag and Yuvraj can bowl a bit. If the two of them can bowl a decent four overs spell between them, the Indians can think of going in with just two seamers (R P Singh and Irfan Pathan), one all-rounder (Joginder Sharma) and a spinner (Harbhajan Singh) and accommodate a specialist batsman in the middle.
We may see another interesting encounter like twenty20 semi finals between these two teams. Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting already had made it very clear that the would be looking forward to avenge the World Cup semi-final loss at the hands of the Indians and they mean business in the last match of their India tour.
Match will start from 7.00 PM (Indian Time which will be Day/Night Encounter)
Likely Playing XI for Both teams:
Indian Squad: Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, R. Sharma, Yuvraj Singh,Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, R.P. Singh,S. Sreesanth, Murali Karthik, Harbhajan Singh
Australian Squad: Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist (WK), Ricky Ponting (C), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, JR Hopes, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuark Clark, Nathan Bracken.
Murali Kartik allround performance both with bat and bowl combined with aggressive batting from Rbin Uthappa (47 of 59 balls) and Zaheer Khan (31 of 43 balls) help India to register a heart breaking win against the World Champions in the final ODI at Mumbai.
Indian front line batsman fail to deliver while chasing a modest target of 194 runs for victory. At one stage their six batsman back in the pavilion for just 64 runs on the board, it needed a patient and plucky 52-run unbeaten ninth-wicket stand between bowling hero Kartik (21 off 34 balls with three fours) and left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan (31 off 43 balls with three fours and a six) to give the hosts their second win in the seven-match series.
India lost both Saurav Ganguly and Dinesh Karthik in the space of few deliveries. They got out without troubling the scorer. However Sachin Tendulkar (21 runs of 36 balls) looks in fine nick before sent back by Brett Lee.
Australia slowly and slowly tightened their grip as they sent Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni and Irfan Pathan very easily and reduce the Indian score to 64/6 in 18.5 overs.
Earlier Australian Captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat first, but they didn’t get the start they wanted. On a very first ball of their innings Zaheer Khan gave India their first breakthrough when he trapped M. Clark plump in front of the wicket.
However Ricky Ponting (57 runs of 78 balls) and Adam Gilchrist (19 runs of 26 balls) put on solid 60 runs partnership for the second wicket. But Irfan Pathan gave India second breakthrough when he gets rid of Adam Gilchrist on 19.
Brad Hodge (16 runs of 29 ball) and Ricky Ponting manage to get the Aussie Score pass to 100 run marks by putting 57 for third wicket before all drama began.
Then after it was all India and Murali Kartik (10-3-27-6) who manage to bowled out the World Champions for 193 runs in 41.3 overs.
Murali Karthik was declared Man of the Match fro his brilliant all round display both with bat and bowl.
Andrew Symonds was declared Man of the Series.
Match Summary
Australia –193/10 in 41.3 Overs
Ricky Ponting – 57Mitchell Johnson– 24*
Murali Kartik – 10-3-27-6R.P Singh- 8.3-0-59-2
India –195/8 in 46 Overs
Robin Uthappa – 47Zaheer Khan– 31*
Mitchell Johnson – 10-0-46-3Nathan Bracken- 10-0-30-2
Murali Kartik bowled an unforgettable spell of his life (10-3-27-6) to bowled out the Australian for mere 193 in 41.3 Overs. Kartik was twice on hat-trick, once taking three wickets in a single over as Australia struggled on a pitch that helped spin bowling.
Kartik dismissed Brad Hodge and Andrew Symonds off successive deliveries and struck a beautiful rhythm that was to prove too difficult for the Aussies to handle.
Later, he dismissed Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg and Brett Lee in the same over, the last two again off successive balls. James Hopes too fell to him as Kartik finished with a career-best haul of 6-27.
Earlier Australian Captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decide to bat first, but they didn’t get the start they wanted. On a very first ball of their innings Zaheer Khan gave India their first breakthrough when he trapped M. Clark plump in front of the wicket.
However Ricky Ponting (57 runs of 78 balls) and Adam Gilchrist (19 runs of 26 balls) put on solid 60 runs partnership for the second wicket. But Irfan Pathan gave India second breakthrough when he get rid of Adam Gilchrist on 19.
Brad Hodge (16 runs of 29 ball) and Ricky Ponting manage to get the Aussie Score pass to 100 run marks by putting 57 for third wicket before all drama began.
Then after it was all India and Murali Kartik who manage to bowled out the World Champions for 193 runs.
India has rested their former captain Rahul Dravid for this match and gave chance to Dinesh Karthik.
Match Summary
Australia –193/10 in 41.3 Overs
Ricky Ponting – 57Mitchell Johnson– 24*
Murali Kartik – 10-3-27-6R.P Singh- 8.3-0-59-2
Final Playing XI for Both teams:
Indian Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh,Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, R.P. Singh,Zaheer Khan, 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, Nathan Bracken.
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.
Australia beat India by 9 wickets to take unbeatable series lead of 3-1 in seven match ODI series. The star of today’s match was Mitchell Johnson who took 5 wickets in his allotted 10 overs.
The 25-year-old Johnson took three wickets inside the first 10 overs to break the back of the Indian batting and the hosts were finally bowled out for a paltry 148 in 39.4 overs. The Aussies reached the target in 25.5 overs.
Mitchell Johnsonwas declared Man of the Match for his brilliant 50 not out of 35 balls.
Seven match One day series between India and Australia came alive after India thrashed the world champions by 8 runs in 4th ODI at Chandigarh to narrow the series gap by 1-2.
Now it’s important for the Indians to continue their good show at Vadodara also, if they want to win the series. Their confidence is high and who knows Dhoni’s and their men in blue may snatch another unpredictable series win against the mighty Aussies.
Australia were clearly the better team in the first three ODIs and cruised to comfortable wins in the second and third match after the first one at Bangalore was washed out.
However at Chandigarh when all seems to be lost, Indian fight back with 8 runs win to stay a live in the series.
Now the fine line has blurred and Australia know they are not the clear favorites anymore. As for India, defeating Australia in a One-Dayer after losing 11 matches spread over more than three years, has come as a big boost and now they need to show that Chandigarh win was no fluke.
Vadodara match will be another milestone for little master who will appear in his 400th ODI and he is only second player after Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasurya to achieve that feet.
"For Sachin every day is a big day," said Murali Kartik in the lead-up to the fifth ODI at Vadodara. "We're all playing for India so each day is a big one. He's achieved so many milestones that playing the 400th one-dayer is a small dot in his list of achievements."
If Indians able to achieve another victory at Vadodara then it will be great for both Sachin and Indian cricket fans.
Match will start from 09.00 AM (Indian Time which will be Day Encounter)
Likely Playing XI for Both teams:
Indian Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, R. Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh,Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Irfan Pathan, R.P. Singh,Zaheer Khan, Murali Karthik, Harbhajan Singh
Australian Squad: Adam Gilchrist (WK), Mathew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (C), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, JR Hopes, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuark Clark.
Twenty20 World Champion finally beat Australia by 8 runs in ongoing seven match ODI series to get them back in the tournament.
Chasing a comparative total of 292 Australia begins their run chase with confidence. Opener Mathew Hayden (92 runs of 92 balls) and Adam Gilchrist (18 runs of 17 balls) looks in good knick but not manage to give their team third successive win in the tournament.
Captain Ricky Ponting (29 runs of 33 balls) also looked good for big scores but could not do much even as Andrew Symonds continued his fine form with another neat half-century.
Earlier Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision looks bad at one stage when Australian bowlers look to pickup wickets at every ball. However best Opening Pair in the world Sachin Tendulkar (79 of 119 balls) and Saurav Ganguly (41 of 59 balls) manage to survive some anxious moment of theirinnings.
They were able to put 91 runs for the first wicket before Ganguly got out on 41 runs. Yuvraj Singh was promoted to No. 3 and he manage to put 83 runs for the 3rd wicket.
After some good partnership in the middle M.S. Dhoni (50 not out of 35 balls) and Robin Uthappa (30 not out of 18 balls) played cameo to help India reach close to 300 run mark.
Australia also conceded 90 runs in the last 10 overs, while premier bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were not bowled out their full quota.
Sachin Tendulkar able to achieve another milestone during this match. He is now highest One-Day run-getter against Australia, eclipsing Desmond Haynes' long standing feat and he also get passed 1000 runs in current calendar year.
M.S. Dhoni was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant 50 not out of 35 balls.
Australia won the third ODI by 47 runs to lead the seven match ODi series by 2-0. Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat first and they manage to score 290/7 in their 50 overs and then bowled out the Indian on 243/10 in 47.4 over. So here is the highlight of Australian & Indian Innings. Star of the day was Yuvraj Singh who hit 121 of 115 balls with 12 fours and 3 sixes.
Australia the world champions registered their second victory to take lead of 2-0 in Seven Match ODI series in 3rd One Day International at Hyderabad. Australia batting first piled a huge score of 290/7 in their 50 overs and then bowled out the Indians for 243/10 in 47.4 overs to register 47 runs victory over Indians.
Earlier Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was well supported by his opener Adam Gilchrist (29 runs of 31 balls) and Mathew Hayden (60 runs of 70 balls). Both put on 76 runs for the first wicket before Adam Gilchrist bowled by Irfan Pathan with beautiful slower one.
However rest of the Australian batsman continued their run feast on Indian soil, especially Andrew Symonds (89 runs of 67 balls) and Michael Clark (59 runs of 71 balls) who put on 123 runs for the 4th wicket.
Australia was eying another 300 plus score in the series but due to lost of some quick wickets at the end they manage 290/7. Only Harbhajan Singh able to restrict the Aussies to some extent by giving only 38 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
Chasing a target of 291, India made a disastrous start and they lost three quick wickets (Gambhir, Uthappa and Dravid) for just 13 runs in 4.1 over. However Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh tried to steady the Indian innings by putting 95 runs of 121 balls and when Indians looking like getting in to the match left armer Brad Hogg bowled Sachin with beauty of delivery when he was on 43 runs of 71 balls.
Yuvraj Singh then combined with Indian skipper Dhoni to put on 65 runs stand for the fifth wicket. But the required rate kept creeping on the batsmen, and India started losing their way as they lost another three wickets in quick succession of M.S Dhoni (33 runs of 37 balls), Rohit Sharma (1 runs of 4 balls) and Irfan Pathan (3 runs of 4 balls).
But Yuvraj Singh was the star of the show as he dazzled with a scintillating knock of 121 off just 115 balls with three huge sixes and twelve fours and kept India in hunt of the target throughout his innings.
Brett Lee was the pick of the bowlers for Australia as he scalped three wickets while Hogg also chipped in with three wickets in the end.
Andrew Symonds was declared Man of the Match for his scintillating knock of 89 runs of 67 balls.
Match Summary
Australia – 290/7 in 50 Overs
Andrew Symonds– 89Mathew Hayden– 60
S.Sreesanth– 9-0-58-2Irfan Pathan- 10-0-57-2
India – 243/10 in 47.4 Overs
Yuvraj Singh – 121Sachin Tendulkar – 43
Brett Lee– 8-1-37-3Brad Hogg- 9-0-46-3
Indian Squad for the rest of two ODI against Australia
India's left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has been recalled for the next two One Day Internationals of the ongoing home series against Australia to be held in Chandigarh and Vadodara.
Meanwhile, the Twenty20 team that won the World Championship in South Africa last month, has been retained for the one-off match to be played against Australia in Mumbai after the ongoing seven-match series with the exception of an injured Piyush Chawla.
Indian cricket team compose of big names and young lads and they need to tighten their strength before third ODI, which will be played on Friday 5th of October at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.
Australia manages to score more than three hundred in each of their innings in the two matches they have played so far at Bangalore and Kochi. Die to rain in Bangalore the first match is ended without result and in Second match World Champions played like champion to outclassed the Indian team and win it by 84 runs.
Australia are likely to be strengthened by the return of their captain Ricky Ponting who missed the first two games because of a hamstring strain he sustained during the ICC World Twenty20. Australia's one worry would have been their tendency to lose quick wickets at the start - 18 for 2 at Bangalore and 8 for 2 at Kochi - and Ponting's inclusion, most likely at the expense of Brad Hodge, will allay fears of the middle order having to bail them out again.
Nathan Bracken also returned from Australia after attending the birth of his son and he is also likely to play.
Indian team is also in dilemma after return of fit Saurav Ganguly. Either Gautam Gambhir has to sit out or one of senior pros may be rested (Sachin or Rahul Dravid). Since Uthappa made 40 runs of 31 balls in 2nd ODI and Gambhir is also looking in nice touch with the bat.
Indian spinner need to tighten up little bit in the middle over, since in both game Indian pacer gave great start but due to lack of consistency in middle over by spinners Australians manage to build partnership and able to get pass the score of 300 runs in their 50 Overs.
India's vice-captain Yuvraj Singh has promised that the team will perform on the field rather than get involved in arguments with the opposition when they take on Australia in the third One-Day International here on Friday.
Pitch here in Hyderabad is batting paradise and we may see another 300 plus game here.
Match will begin from 09.00 AM (Indian Time which will be Day Match)
Australian the One day International World champions thrashed the T20 Woorld Champion by 84 runs in 2nd ODI at Kochi to take 1-0 lead in Seven match ODI series.
Some Aggressive batting display by two Aussies Brad Haddin (87 of 69 balls) and Andrew Symonds (87 of 83 balls) help Australia to piles a huge 306 in their allotted 50 overs and then bowled out the Indians on mere 222 runs in 47.3 overs.
Earlier Indian Captain M.S. Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first on a wicket that seems to provide some help to the bowlers early on. Indian bowler bowls beautifully in first couple of over to reduce Australians to 8/2 in the 4th over but Matthew Hayden (75) set a solid platform along with Symonds (87) adding 94 runs for the fourth wicket. And then, Symonds in association with Haddin, mixed caution with aggression to help Australia cross the 300-run mark.
Australia were helped by two big partnerships - first for the fourth wicket between Hayden and Symonds and then the 108-run association for the fifth wicket between Symonds and Haddin.
Chasing a huge target Indians needed a brisk start by their batsman but in the 4th over of their inning they lost their first wicket on 11, when Gautam Gambhir is bowled by M.Johnson for 7. However Robin Uthappa (41 of 30 balls) & Sachin Tendulkar (16 of 25 balls) put 47 runs for the second wicket in quick time but they lost three quick wickets to lost the momentum.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid needed to stabilize the innings but in trying to do so, the scoring-rate dropped sharply and Dravid fell to Hogg before he could do enough.
Irfan Pathan followed him to the dressing room, leaving the tail-enders to do an improbable task along with Dhoni at the other end.
The skipper completed his half-century but knew that he was fighting a lost battle and ultimately it was just a matter of time before the Indian innings ended at 222 in 47.3 overs.
Brad Haddin was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 87 runs.
First ODI match was called of due to rain in Bangalore with no results but Australia looks promising at Bangalore and looks to threaten the World Twenty20 champions.
However, here in Kochi – the venue of the second ODI, there is something more that the teams would have to fight against first before taking on each other to win the match. It is rain which has been playing spoilsport over the past few weeks. There were heavy showers on Monday afternoon as well and there is a possibility that there might be just no match at all.
Australia acting captain Adam Gilchrist said “both teams are keen to win the first match whether it is tomorrow or next one”.
Chances are very high that we may see five match ODI series instead of seven match series after first two matches is being washed out.
If there is any play tomorrow, then former skipper Saurav Ganguly have to sit out due to hamstring strain.
Ricky Ponting is still unsure of playing and the final XI would be decided only before the match, according to Gilchrist.
The pitch curator at Kochi suggested the team winning the toss should go for Bowling but both team captains don’t want to prepare any strategy until play get under way.
This is the same ground where Sachin Tendulkar picks up 5 wicket against the Australian ten year back, so this wicket might offer spin for both. In this case India may opt out to play with both spinners Harbhajan & Ramesh Powar.
"Though, the groundstaff is working hard to make things work, till now it is more on the negative side," said S S Sareen, the match observer. However the chances of play are very less.
Match will begin from 09.00 AM (Indian Time which will be Day/Night Encounter)
Likely Playing XI for Both teams:
Indian Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh,Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C/WK), Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, S.Sreesanth,Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, R.P. Singh
Australian Squad: Adam Gilchrist (C/WK), Mathew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg, JR Hopes, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuark Clark.
