Australia have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for the second of the ongoing three-match ODI series against India at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. The development was confirmed after stand-in captain Steven Smith won the toss and chose to bowl much like India stand-in captain Hardik Pandya in the first ODI in Mumbai on Friday.
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“We will have a bowl. Different surface, been under covers for a while, might do something. Just a partnership through the middle would have helped us [in the first ODI]. It’s a good learning for us playing on these surfaces,” Smith told host broadcaster Star Sports Network at the toss.
With regular India captain Rohit Sharma returning to the Playing XI today, even the home team has made a couple of changes to a winning XI on Sunday.
It is quite a relief that both the toss and match began on time on a day which is expected to receive a lot of rainfall in Visakhapatnam.
Why is Glenn Maxwell not playing today vs India?
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had played an international match for the first time in the last four months at the Wankhede Stadium, isn’t part of their Playing XI due to soreness. Wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey, who had missed the last match due to illness, has returned to the XI on expected lines.
“[Nathan] Ellis comes in for [Glenn] Maxwell who has pulled up a bit sore and [Alex] Carey is back for [Josh] Inglis,” Smith said at the toss. The development means that Australia have added a third specialist pace-bowling option in Nathan Ellis whilst compromising with their batting a bit. Having said that, considering their already elongated batting order, they might not miss Maxwell today.
India, meanwhile, have brought Sharma and all-rounder Axar Patel for batter Ishan Kishan and all-rounder Shardul Thakur. “If we win the toss, I thought we could do something with three spinners if we bowl first. I think it will still turn in the second innings. And three spinners is something we might go with in the World Cup, so we want to try,” Sharma told Star Sports regarding Patel replacing Thakur in the XI.
India register second batting collapse in as many matches
India, who had lost five wickets around the 20th over on the day before yesterday, lost five wickets around the 10th over today. A common factor behind both the batting collapses was Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc. Although India managed to win the first ODI because of their middle-order, it might not happen in the ongoing match as they’ve lost seven wickets before the 100-run mark.
