Australia, on Thursday, announced their playing eleven for the third and final ODI against India on Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The three-match series is currently locked at 1-1 after India’s six-wicket win at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. India had bounced back from the defeat in the series-opener to level the series in Adelaide.
Batting first, Australia rode on Shaun Marsh’s fourth ODI century in his last 8 games to post a competitive 298 for 9. But while the score was 10 runs more than what Australia scored in the first game and won comfortably, India never looked in trouble while chasing again. Virat Kohli scored a sizzling century to set the tone for the chase before MS Dhoni scored an unbeaten fifty to fire India to the series-levelling win.
The momentum is now firmly in India’s favour. Australia, on the other hand, will be desperate to end the series on a good note and end their recent miseries in ODIs. The hosts will be hoping to end a two-year barren run without an ODI series win when they take on India in the must-win clash.
And for the series-decider, the hosts have made two changes to their playing eleven, recalling Adam Zampa and Billy Stanlake.
Stanlake replaces paceman Jason Behrendorff, who has been ruled out with back soreness. Behrendorff, who picked three wickets in the first two ODIs, played a crucial role in his side’s convincing win in the 34-run win in the series-opener. On the other hand, Zampa replaces Nathan Lyon who failed to take a single wicket in the first two ODIs Kane Richardson has been called into the squad as cover.
Australia XI:
Aaron Finch, Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake