Who will open with Shikhar Dhawan today: India had to take a couple of tough decisions upon their return to ODI cricket after 290 days.
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During the first ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of Australia in Sydney, Australia captain Aaron Finch has won the toss and chose to bat. Other than this being the first international match in Australia since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, it will also be the first match to witness fans inside a stadium.
“Great to have cricket back, in front of some fans as well. Just the one change, Steve Smith comes in for Mitchell Marsh. Reasonably good pitch, hopefully we can put up a good total and it’ll spin later on,” Finch was quoted as saying during the toss.
As hinted on the eve of the match by Finch himself, Australia have made a solitary change to their Playing XI which played against England at the Old Trafford in September.
Who will open with Shikhar Dhawan in today’s AUS vs IND ODI?
Speaking during the toss, India captain Virat Kohli talked about how a couple of weeks’ training has come good for his team especially before a tour of Australia. Being asked about the crucial opening batsman’s role, Kohli revealed that they are persisting with Mayank Agarwal to partner Shikhar Dhawan at the top.
“I think it’s very important to start well for us as a team. When you come to a place like Australia, you want to set the momentum early. We were given a few allowances to be able to train and the boys took it really well. We got a bit of lead time, which I think is priceless in today’s international schedule.
“Mayank Agarwal’s going to start. He’s a really exciting player, had a great IPL. He’ll start with Shikhar [Dhawan]. The five guys who miss out are Manish Pandey, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Shardul Thakur and Natarajan,” Kohli was quoted as saying during the toss.
As far as the bowling combination is concerned, India will take the field with their preferred attack featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini. While uncapped fast bowler T. Natarajan was added to the squad as Saini’s cover last night, it seems to be a precautionary move especially with Saini playing today.
