Two more teams begin their final preparations for the upcoming World Cup on Friday when the hosts India take on Australia in the first of three ODIs between two teams who could very well compete for that trophy in two months.
This opening game comes from Mohali and offers both teams the chance to go one up with two to play but the overriding aim of this match is for both sides to acclimatise to conditions and work on a few combinations.
India
India arrive into this series as the recent Asia Cup champions but they will look a lot different to the side which won that tournament. Their experienced and key players are being rested so it will be the men who are on the fringes and hoping to force their way in who will be involved in this game, along with one or two who are returning from injury and a couple who might offer up a different option should an injury come along during the World Cup.
While India are keeping their elder players fresh, they will not want to go into a home World Cup on a losing run so there still feels like there is an importance on this match and the two to come even though rotation will take place. Any Indian side which takes the field is generally strong with the bat and I don’t expect this one to be any different. Where they might not be as strong as they will be when these two open their World Cup campaigns against each other is with the ball.
Australia
Australia come to India off the back of an ODI series defeat in South Africa. They were 2-0 up in that series before it all started going wrong and ended up losing 3-2. They picked up a couple of injuries towards the end of that series which might force them into going in a different direction for the World Cup and so we might get an insight into what their plans are in this match, or if not in this one then certainly one if not both of the two which follows.
Australia went out with an intent to be aggressive with the bat in South Africa. It would make sense for them to do the same thing here in India with the pitches conducive to big scores in this part of the world but the tourists will need to play spin well if they are going to do that. They might need their batters to come off because the Australians are still waiting for a couple of their main bowlers to become available. They are also likely to build into the series given the chance of conditions from South Africa to here.
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Team News
India have chosen to rest Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya for this series while Axar Patel will miss this opening match with injury. KL Rahul will skipper a side which is expected to contain all three spinning all-rounders Ravi Jadeja, R Ashwin and Washington Sundar.
Australia will be without Travis Head from the team which was playing at the beginning of the series in South Africa. He is injured while Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc haven’t yet made their way to India. Steve Smith and Pat Cummins are available though.
Betting
This is a high scoring ground. Five of the last six first innings on this ground in ODI cricket have been 285 or more and the last two have been 392/4 and 358/9. The latter was when India hosted Australia and the Aussies chased that score down. This is always a good wicket to bat on with the ball coming onto the bat nicely and the outfield like a carpet. While there hasn’t been an ODI here for four years, the Punjab Kings play here in the IPL and their matches are high scoring.
I’m not expecting anything to change here. Both teams have bowlers to come into their side and both are going to have their teams filled with all-rounders which allows their batting to continue deep down the order. We’ve just seen Australia concede 400 in South Africa and there is no denying this Indian batting is stronger than the South African one in class and depth but Australia run deep with the bat and have their class act in the side. The boundary line looks a little high here at 64.5 but the last two ODIs have had counts into the 70s and with the rule changes since then to suit boundary hitting I expect this line to be covered here.
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