India vs Australia 2019: Can India regain some of their lost confidence by winning the 5th ODI?
With the series evenly poised, both India and Australia have finally landed in Delhi where they will play the decider. India managed to win the first two ODIs and from there Australia bounced back and leveled the series by winning two consecutive matches.
Just when everyone was wondering whether it was possible for this inexperienced Aussie team to even challenge India in their own den, the Aussies proved why you can never write them off.
If you look at the matches that have been played already, you would realize that it has been an Aussie-dominated series. India won the first game only when MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav stitched together a strong partnership; otherwise, the game would have gone the other way.
In Nagpur, the Aussies had control over the game most of the time, but due to the brilliant death bowling by Jasprit Bumrah the game swung India's way.
In the third ODI at Ranchi and the fourth at Mohali the Aussies recorded comfortable victories despite all the aches they got in one innings.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that this series is a bit of a setback for the Indian team. They are failing to execute their plans against a team whom they had defeated a month ago on their own soil.
In all the 12 ODI games that India have played this year, they have ticked the boxes one by one. But there were a handful of concerns still left and India continued their experimentation policies for the World Cup till the last game in Mohali.
That, however, has left India on the verge of losing a series on their home soil just when all the preparation schemes were getting over. Therefore, India would look to play with a ruthless mindset to seal the series first on Wednesday, so as to regain their lost confidence.
The ground of Feroz Shah Kotla is fully prepared for the decider, and it promises to be a great cracker. The series can go either way, and each team would try their personal best to win the game.
Predicted Australia XI:
Aaron Finch (c), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa.
Predicted India XI:
Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pitch and weather forecast:
Batting is not always easy at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The pitch offers uneven bounce and the pacers might find something in it for them. There is bit of a roughness on the pitch too, and therefore India could go with Ravindra Jadeja.
It is expected to be a sunny day in Delhi.
Match day and timings: Wednesday, 13th March 2019 at 13:30 IST
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi