Two cricketing powerhouses meet in the deciding match of their ODI series in Bangalore on Sunday when India and Australia lock horns for the third and final time, with plenty at stake in what is set up to be a great game of cricket.
We’ve seen two one-sided matches to get us into this decider, with Australia emphatically taking the lead before India dominated the second one to make things all square. The winner really does take it all right here.
India
India didn’t really perform with the bat or the ball in the opening match of the series, but you can’t label that in their direction in the second game. It wasn’t completely perfect in Rajkot but it was near enough to it to suggest that if they can find a repeat of that display, they will be very hard to stop in this match. They still have issues which will need addressing going forward, but they showed in the last game they can still deliver the goods.
The key thing for India in that second game was that they put scoreboard pressure onto the Australians which they were not able to do in the opening game. With the small dimensions of this ground they are going to need to put up runs and scoreboard pressure if they are going to win this match and in turn the series. It will be interesting to see the make up of their side in light of the small dimensions here.
Australia
Given how emphatically they won the opening match of the series, Australia could be forgiven for expecting much more from themselves in the second game but in truth they didn’t do a whole lot wrong. They forced India to be at their best with the way they opened up the series in Mumbai and that is exactly what they got hit with. The gauntlet has been laid down to the tourists again now and it will be interesting to see if they can come up with the goods under pressure.
In that opening match, their bowlers were able to get stuck in early and you would think that would be the key to success here. This is the IPL home ground of Mitchell Starc so he should have some local knowledge he can pass on. Australia have looked fine with the bat so far so they should be thinking they can still win this series, especially here where the slight ground dimensions might play into their hands somewhat.
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Team News
India are hoping that Rishabh Pant has recovered from the concussion he sustained in the opening match of the series, and if he has he is expected to come into the middle order with Manish Pandey potentially the man to sit out. They could rotate their leg spinners too with this being Yuzvendra Chahal’s home ground in the IPL.
Ashton Turner has lost all of his form at the minute and his spot in the side could be vulnerable, especially with Peter Handscomb, a decent player of spin waiting in the wings. Kane Richardson might have gone for a few too many runs last time out too.
Betting
I think we all know about the dimensions of this M Chinnaswamy Stadium ground by now. I mention it all the time in the Indian Premier League previews for matches here and also the altitude that the ground is at so there is a good chance the ball is going to be flying everywhere here. That has been the case so far in the series and I don’t expect it to end until after this match, especially with the talk that the wicket looks fantastic.
This is not going to surprise anyone but I’m going for the boundaries in this match. We’ve seen two matches laced with them so far and now he come onto the smallest ground of the lot. We had 63 boundaries in a moderate scoring game in Mumbai and then 66 in Rajkot so I would be very surprised if the 64.5 boundary line is high enough in this match. These two teams have played the last two ODIs here, combining for 97 and 72 boundaries in those matches. In terms of power the game has moved on since then. This line looks too low.
Tips
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