For the third time in succession Australia chased down a modest total with ease in Melbourne on Sunday and that ensured they won the ODI series with India at the earliest possible opportunity.
Despite the series being over the two sides still have two more ODIs to play with the first of those coming in Canberra on Wednesday ahead of three much more important T20 games.
Australia have completely dominated the series so far. In days gone by they would be a ruthless, no mercy opponent who would look to complete a 5-0 sweep and it will be interesting to see if they are bang on it for the rest of the series bearing in mind the cricket that is to come.
David Warner missed the first two matches on paternity leave but he is back for this one. Shaun Marsh scored a couple of 50s in his absence but still looks like the man to make way if Warner comes back into the side. Nathan Lyon could come into the team for some white ball practice ahead of the T20s. Kane Richardson could miss out.
India simply haven’t been able to put up a total which their bowlers have had a chance to defend in this series so far. They have generally left their attack too late and come up short as a result. With nothing to lose they might be a more dangerous opponent but they’d still prefer to chase.
With two matches with little meaning there is the chance for India to rotate some players or try out some combinations. You would think there is an ideal chance for Rishi Dhawan to make an international debut while Bhuvneshwar Kumar can’t sit the whole series out surely. R Ashwin could come back in too but who misses out is anyone’s guess really.
The Manuka Oval in Canberra is the venue for this penultimate game of the series. There have been seven matches on this ground including those in the World Cup last year. Australia have played in two of them and won them both. India played here in 2008 and lost.
This is another ground which is pretty high scoring with four of the seven first innings being well over 300 but it is a place where the boundaries are big and so a lot of running has to be done. Nevertheless with the two attacks on show we should expect another run fest.
With this being a dead rubber I’m in no rush to bet on the outcome of the contest but even so I couldn’t bet before the match because we’ve seen so far that India simply can’t win unless they are chasing unless Australia throw it away with the bat, which they nearly did in Melbourne.
That said there is one price which has lured me in and it comes in the sixes market where maybe the line is a little too high at 9.5. These are big boundaries here and I would expect to see most of the boundaries that are hit to be along the floor much like they were in Melbourne.
As a general rule not many sixes are hit here so I’ll take a chance on the unders although not to a massive stake given the two weak attacks we’ve got defending these boundaries.
Back Under 9.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
