Australia vs India 2019: One change that India should make for the 2nd ODI
Team India suffered a disappointing defeat in the first ODI of the 2019 series against Australia at Sydney by 34 runs. The match was within India's grasp till the first 40 overs of the Australian innings before the Indian death bowlers leaked runs allowing the Australian total to propel to 288.
Chasing 289, India got off to the worst possible start losing three wickets with just 4 runs on the board including that of skipper Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni did the consolidation work but once Dhoni fell for 51, Rohit got very little support from the other end and raised his own battle scoring a scintillating 133. India fell 34 runs short in a game where they should have cruised home easily.
The men in blue need to pull their socks up and regroup before going into the second one-day international at the Adelaide Oval. Here is the lone change that India should make for their second ODI to get the balance right.
Kedar Jadhav in place of Dinesh Karthik
India clearly missed Kedar Jadhav in the first ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Kedar Jadhav is someone who can slip in useful 7-8 overs in the middle phase of the innings and is an explosive batsman down the order.
When Khaleel Ahmed was going for runs, India had to turn to the part-time off-spin of Ambati Rayudu to complete his quota. Instead, Jadhav could have bowled more overs and maybe would have struck a couple of times as he has an uncanny knack of being the partnership-breaker.
Also, when the run rate went above 8 runs per over in the Indian innings, Jadhav's adventurous batting would have come in handy as he is tailor-made for such situations. His knock of 120 runs off 76 balls against England had come in a similar scenario.
Dinesh Karthik has had his fair share of opportunities and hasn't impressed at all. It will be wise on the part of Indians to include Kedar and drop Karthik for the second ODI as the series is at stake.