Just days after wrapping up a T20 series with Sri Lanka, India are back out on the cricket pitch when they take on Australia in the first of three ODIs that will take place over the remainder of the week, as the two losing World Cup semi-finalists look to showcase their credentials once again in Mumbai.
India are in a prolonged spell of white ball cricket and are building momentum nicely, while Australia come in here off the back of a couple of months of Test cricket, so it will be interesting to see whether the tourists can adjust quickly.
India
India are getting the results at the minute, but I just feel there is something unconvincing about them at the present time. They seem to be unsure of their best combination in terms of playing all-rounders or specialists and really they end up doing neither. It will be interesting to see if they make a stand one way or the other. It could also be of course that they are backing the wrong horses when they come to those all-rounders, but to be fair they are getting results.
The number five and six positions have been under scrutiny and a bit of an issue for going on too long now it has to be said. They get by because their top four are so good and their four main bowlers are of outstanding quality, but I just suspect they are going to come up short eventually. They almost did against West Indies recently. This is probably a stiffer test than that one was so it will be interesting to see how they cope with it.
Australia
Although they didn’t go on and win the World Cup, when Australia last headed for India in this format they were in complete disarray. It was while they were in India that they began to turn things around and now they will look to build on what has been a much improved period since then. This is their first ODI outing since the World Cup so there is a point to prove for the tourists, but they won here without some key players last time and that is sure to give them some confidence.
You can often tell how seriously Australia are taking a match or a series by the quality of squad that they pick. They have named a lot of strong players, and while they have left some household names at home, there is a suggestion that is because they are moving away from all-rounders and focusing on specialists. If they get up to speed in white ball cricket quickly, they will expect to put up a really strong showing.
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Team News
Jasprit Bumrah will play his first ODI since the World Cup in this match but the make up of the Indian side remains open to debate. There is talk that Rishabh Pant will be left out in order to play Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja.
Australia are expected to give an ODI debut to Marcus Labaschagne after his excellent start to his international career. Their Test attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummns and Josh Hazlewood are expected to start here.
Betting
We saw when West Indies played India in a T20 international here recently that this is a high scoring ground, although we didn’t really need to see that because everyone knows that is the case. I don’t really see much other than a contest full of runs here between two sides used to scoring big on a wicket which is ideal for batting. When you factor in the dew that is likely to fall in the second innings runs are likely to come readily.
It is that dew which means I can’t be getting involved in the match outcome before we know the result of the toss. Instead I’m going to take over 565.5 runs where it could quite possibly equate to a bet on the team batting first to make 283 or more. With the power and quality in these two batting line ups, coupled with the incredibly short and accessible boundaries I fancy that is well within reach. I’ll play the over here.
Tips
Back Over 565.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
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