India and Australia are playing the second game of the three-match ODI series at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Rajkot). Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first.
The visitors Australia are leading this ODI series by 1-0. They won the first game of this series at Mumbai on last Tuesday (14th January) where they thrashed the hosts by 10 wickets. After bowling out the hosts for 255 runs, Australia chased down that target in 37.4 overs without disturbing the wicket column.
While another victory will secure this ODI series for Australia, the hosts India can’t afford another defeat in this ODI series.
Australia made no changes
Coming back to this second ODI at Rajkot, the Australian captain Aaron Finch once again won the toss and decided to field first. The visitors have fielded the same playing XI as Mumbai ODI.
Finch said after winning the toss, “We are going to bowl first. It looks like a beautiful wicket, I don’t think it’s going to change. We had success chasing in the last game, hopefully we can do that today as well. They (the spinners) controlled their length really well. Same team for us.”
India made two changes
After losing the toss, Indian captain Virat Kohli has confirmed that they have made two changes from the last playing XI. Manish Pandey has replaced the injured wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and Navdeep Saini has returned to the squad as a replacement of Shardul Thakur.
Indian captain Virat Kohli said, “We would’ve bowled first as well. But the good thing is that there’s not much dew factor here. It looks (the wicket) really nice and hard. If we put enough runs on the board, we have a good chance of putting the opposition under pressure. You will be beaten comprehensively by sides like Australia at the International level.
“It’s about understanding what went wrong, not think too much about that game. We need to focus on the positives. We are going to be more brave than the last game, that’s for sure.
“Couple of changes. One forced change; Rishabh is not playing. He’s still having that concussion assessment going on. KL will keep in place of him and Manish replaces him. And Navdeep Saini replaces Shardul Thakur.”
Here are the playing XIs of both the teams:
Indian playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Australian playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa