The first ODI was a complete failure from the Australian point of view as they let the match slip away from their grip without putting showing much resilience. The opportunity to limited to a low score was squandered. Later, a top order failure ensured that India got the advantage quite early during their defense.
But, in the end, no single players can be held responsible for the loss. At worse, Steve Smith could be questioned for his tactics, but there was very little that could be done when MS Dhoni – Pandya pair gained their hold over the proceedings.
Batting department was yet again of no use against spin. They were put in a reasonably good T20 chase situation and needed just a couple of good stands to get past the winning line. All they needed was a good start, but they failed.
As it happened later, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner did prove that ha the top order succeeded to some extent, the face of the game would have changed entirely.
Fast bowlers Nathan Coulter–Nile and Pat Cummins, who enjoyed a ‘surprising” assistance from the wicket at Chennai will be left to deal with a track that will most likely be slow and offer very less movement and carry, all thanks to the gloomy weather in Kolkata.
The playing conditions in Kolkata have changed lately after the arrival of Sourav Ganguly who turned Eden gardens into a fast bowling venue but as curator explains – it will need a good amount of sunshine for the track to be match ready.
Predicted XI
Smith will need to change the line-up a bit to suit the requirements of playing at the Eden Gardens. And, at present, two possible changes can be anticipated.
Those would be the inclusion of Aston Agar and Peter Handscomb.
Agar will add more spin element to the XI. The left-arm spinner will be handy in the middle overs and probably can forge a successful partnership with Zampa.
In this case, Smith will make a tough decision to leave out one seam bowling all-rounder (both Stoinis and Faulkner did a good job) or replace Zampa.
Handscomb seems to be the better option to replace Cartwright as the opener if Smith feels an urgency to sort out the issue of finding an opening partner for David Warner.
Here’s the Predicted XI:
David Warner, Hilton Cartwright/Peter Handscomb, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mathew Wade, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa/Aston Agar