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India’s Predicted Playing XI for 1st ODI against Australia

Dixit Bhargav
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India’s Predicted Playing XI for 1st ODI against Australia

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 1st ODI against Australia: Sportsrush presents before you India’s playing XI for the first ODI.

There is thing about World Cups which make people think beyond an otherwise highly competitive five-match ODI series between India and Australia. Not that the imminent series won’t be competitive, all of its competition will be unequivocally assessed in terms of the world event.

While Australia have the cushion of playing another five-match series against Pakistan, India will be playing their last bout before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Therefore, the hosts will have more to look forward to in this series.

The biggest conundrum which the Indian team will be facing will be to find a balance between the temptation to experiment (because of the World Cup) and not let the same affect the series result.

“We are playing to win the series or else I’ll leave the ball to hit the stumps. As I said earlier, if we want to see how a few guys play in a certain situation, we’ll play them again in that situation. It’s not like if a guy is not playing in a certain situation, he doesn’t have the ability,” India captain Virat Kohli was quoted as saying during the pre-series press conference when asked about experimenting in these five ODIs.

The first of the five ODIs will be played tomorrow in Hyderabad. It will be followed by matches in Nagpur (March 5), Ranchi (March 8), Mohali (March 10) and Delhi (March 13).

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 1st ODI against Australia

1) Top-order – Opening batsman Lokesh Rahul’s impressive performance in the two T20Is is highly likely to force the team management to play him in the first ODI. However, India might also be looking to seal the series first with their top set of players before providing game-time to other players.

As a result, the formidable opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are most likely to face the Australia pacers tomorrow. Despite sounding “more than happy” regarding playing at No. 4 in the World Cup, one expects Kohli to continue playing at No. 3 in this series.

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2) Middle-order – Since making his comeback into the ODI squad last year, Ambati Rayudu has scored 606 runs in 18 matches at an average of 50.50 and a strike rate of 86.44, including one century and four half-centuries.

His stint in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy saw him returning with scores of 6, 29, 17 and 15. The 33-year old batsman would be hoping to not let this recent slump in form affect his game at the highest level.

After getting hit on his right forearm during India’s net session, former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn’t resume batting. Because there hasn’t been any official announcement, one expects he is out of danger and fit to play. Should he miss the first ODI, wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant must replace him.

An injury to all-rounder Hardik Pandya will present a major concern for India regarding whom to play at No. 7. While the selectors have named Ravindra Jadeja as Pandya’s replacement, playing him at the same spot won’t make much sense keeping the World Cup into mind.

Sticking to their overall combination for the World Cup, India should play Vijay Shankar in place of Pandya to make sure that they don’t suffer in either of the two departments.

3) Bowlers – While India have benched one out of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the past, they shouldn’t do the same now. Given how the two spinners have dominated the opposition batsmen in the past, there is no reason as to why they shouldn’t be played together tomorrow.

While India will be eager to play Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami as their new-ball bowlers in the first ODI, they also have the option of playing Siddarth Kaul and one out of Bumrah and Shami. Since Kaul has been named in the squad for the first two ODIs, these two matches are his only chances before the world event.

India’s Predicted Playing XI for 1st ODI against Australia – 1) Rohit Sharma 2) Shikhar Dhawan 3) Virat Kohli (c) 4) Ambati Rayudu 5) MS Dhoni (wk) 6) Kedar Jadhav 7) Vijay Shankar 8) Kuldeep Yadav 9) Siddarth Kaul/Mohammed Shami 10) Yuzvendra Chahal 11) Jasprit Bumrah

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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