India vs. Australia 2017: Star Player Injured Ahead Of The First ODI

Sep 16, 2017 at 3:45 PM

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India vs. Australia 2017: Star Player Injured Ahead Of The First ODI

India will be raring to make their dominate from the word go as men in blue take on the visiting Australians in the opening ODI of the five-match ODI series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

After a super show in the Champions Trophy 2017 and mauling Sri Lanka, there will be no doubts over the fact that Men in Blue will look to extend their excellent form in home conditions.

Australia will be hoping to halt India’s dream run. Backed by their recent experiences of playing in the IPL, Australians are pretty confident of creating an unpleasant turnaround in India’s recent fortunes.

They have a tough Ashes to look forward to and are fresh from facing the spin challenge in Bangladesh. Both these factors will motivate them to put up an inspiring show, thereby making the pretty exciting and a closely fought one.

Team News:

India’s left-arm spinner Axar Patel sprianed his ankle on Friday in one of the trainning sessions. He was apparently playing football. India, if Axar is not fit, will probably go with Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav as two frontline spinners.

Versatility of the side set to be tested

The entire top order is capable of opening the innings without making any fuss. KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane and even skipper Virat Kohli can fill in for Dhawan. This is perhaps the single biggest reason; the selectors did not name any replacement for the in-form left-hander.

This dash of versatility is also a quality for which Kohli is working quite hard. Therefore, Dhawan’s unexpected absence from the upcoming series is a great opportunity to test whether the batsmen in the side are really capable of batting anywhere in the batting order or there is much more work left.

Another discussion will be in the spin department. The experienced duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will not be around. Their absence will be compensated by the young spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.

Time to get the bowling combination right

In the Australian camp; the talking points are pretty similar. They are looking for a suitable option to replace injured Aaron Finch and sort out their bowling combination in the absence of their fast bowling spearheads – Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. The two pacemen have been rested to ensure they remain injury free and fresh ahead of the more important Ashes 2017.

There are three options available to bat at the top of the order with David Warner –Travis Head Hilton Cartwright and Peter Handscomb. All three are established top order batsmen capable of filling Aaron Finch’s shoes but none of them assures effectiveness entirely.

Cartwright won the right to try out after he was sent to open the innings in the practice game but returned with a second ball duck. Head and Handscomb have not experience opening the innings. Smith will ponder carefully over this fact.

The bowling attack will be led by Pat Cummins. To complement his express quick bowling, the squad has Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kane Richardson. The latter two getting a chance together seem pretty less as the pitches expected to be either spinner – friendly or flat. Therefore, Australia may opt to play both Adam Zampa and Aston Agar.

Predicted XI:

India – Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav/Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

Bench: Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia – David Warner, Peter Handscomb, Steven Smith (C), Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (WK), James Faulkner, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa

Bench: Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Hilton Cartwright

Match Prediction: India to win of they bowl first.

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