Australia and India meet in the fifth and final ODI on Saturday when the two sides meet in Sydney for the first time since the World Cup semi-final last year.
Australia won that semi-final and they’ve won all four matches in this series so far too although quite how they won the previous match only India might know.
It looked like India were cruising to victory in Canberra to achieve some relief from what has been a wretched tour so far but an alarming collapse has left them winless so far and fighting hard to avoid a series whitewash going into the last game.
Australia will be looking to whitewash India in this final match. They had the chance to release players from their squad for the Big Bash semi-finals and the fact that they didn’t do that suggests they will be keeping a strong side for this game.
Shaun Marsh and Scott Boland are waiting patiently on the sidelines but unless there is a last minute injury they could both be staying there unless Darren Lehmann decides to rest one of his stars ahead of the large amounts of cricket to come.
India were cruising in Canberra and it will be interesting to see what effect that collapse has had on them. You would think if any wicket in this series was going to suit them it would be this one which will give them a bit of confidence if nothing else.
India might look to bring another spinner into their side here. R Ashwin was surprisingly left out in Canberra and would be the favourite to come in but Axar Patel hasn’t had a run out in the series yet and now might be the time he sees some action. Ajinkya Rahane is a doubt so Manish Pandey could come in for him.
The Sydney Cricket Ground will be hosting an ODI for the 152nd time here. Australia have a decent record on this ground with 83 wins to 37 losses while India have just four wins from 18 attempts with 13 defeats which is something of a surprise given the characteristic of this wicket.
Usually the wicket here can be low and slow and offer plenty of turn so you would think that will play into the hands of the Indians but their record here puts me off a little bit. If they are going to win a match anywhere you would have thought before the series that it would have been here but I’m not so keen to back them after that collapse in Canberra.
One bet I will take is the performance of Steve Smith. His line is at 44 which he has covered in three of the four matches in this series and in the game he didn’t cover it he scored 41pts so he wasn’t far away.
This is Smith’s home ground and three of his last four ODI scores here have been 67, 72 and 105 which isn’t a surprise given how good he is and how well he’ll know this wicket. I fancy him to cover this line with the bat but if he doesn’t he’ll be fielding around the bat where catches come along and he even bowled a couple of overs in Canberra and could easily turn his arm over here. There’s enough potential to go over this line.
Back S.Smith’s Performance Pts – 44&Over for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
