India will have three chances to win the ongoing ODI series against Australia and the first of those comes along in Ranchi on Friday when the sides meet in the third of the five matches with the home side leading 2-0.
Australia will be reeling from letting a wonderful position slip in the previous ODI and know there is no room for error any longer. If they lose here the series is gone and that is not what they want with another series in the UAE to come.
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India
I would imagine India will know they got away with one in the previous match in Nagpur but they will take it I’m sure. It was a strange match because India were never really in front and yet you always felt deep down that they might get the job done. That highlights how good they are in this format, and how feared they are becoming in it, especially in their own conditions.
India are something of a winning machine in this format at the minute, and while they are not firing on every cylinder available to them, they are doing enough. It is never a bad thing when there is a bit of room for improvement either I find as it gives them reason to stay humble and keep working hard. It is their batting which is a cause for concern but no more than that at this stage.
Australia
The tourists will be kicking themselves for a while after the way they failed to get over the line in the second match. Had they have done that they would have levelled up the ODI series having taken both T20 matches and they would have had India second guessing themselves. As it is, any pressure that they built up has been released and now they face a mountain to climb to land the series.
While much of the focus should they fail to get back into the series will be about building for the World Cup, no Australia side likes to lose matches. The really annoying thing for them will be that their bowlers did the job, which is no easy for them in these conditions. They will have expected to get over the line with the bat but it wasn’t to be the case. Their batsmen owe them a performance here.
Team News
India will be able to welcome Bhuvneshwar Kumar back for this match so they are set to go from strength to strength from here on in. Mohammad Shami looks the natural player to make way for the opening bowler.
Australia have a lot of cricket still to come so you wonder just how many matches Nathan Coulter-Nile has left in him before he needs a break. Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff are waiting in the wings if he sits this one out.
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Betting
I think it is going to be hard for Australia to recover from the defeat in that previous match. Those kind of losses take a lot of getting over and this might not be the place where they are going to do it. That said though India are pretty short enough given that it only takes a Maxwell blitz for Australia to be competitive. I’ll take a bet on this match but it comes in the side markets.
I have taken the performance of MS Dhoni in both the first two matches. He covered with ease in the first one but a first ball duck in the second gave him little chance. He still scored 20pts in the field though so it wasn’t the wrong bet, especially as he had 16 overs left when he was dismissed. Ranchi is his home ground, the pavilion is named after him and I expect him to have a decent involvement as a result. His line has stayed at 40.5 here and given that I expect more of an impact with the bat I’m happy to be on the over once again.
Tips
Back MS.Dhoni’s Performance – Over 40.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betway
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