IND v AUS 2020, 1st ODI: India's predicted playing XI
The Indian men's cricket team is finally set to return to international cricket with the limited-overs leg of the tour of Australia.
While Australia's last visit to India saw the visitors clinch a hard-fought 5-match series despite being 2-0 down at one point, both teams have undergone change in personnel since.
The biggest concern for Team India will be the absence of opener and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who is still under a yet-unresolved injury cloud. However, with several exciting top-order prospects, the team looks to have its bases covered in the batting department. With Virat Kohli and KL Rahul showing their worth in the intra-squad warm up games, expect a solid batting performance from the Men in Blue.
Here is the predicted playing XI for the first India vs Australia ODI on 27th November.
Openers: Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan
After a bit of a lull in all formats which saw him lose his place entirely from the Test setup and fall behind in T20s, Shikhar Dhawan forced his way back into contention after a strong IPL 2020.
Over the course of the tournament, he became the first batsman to score back-to-back hundreds and put in vital contributions even as the fragile DC top order often imploded around him. Expect him to be the experienced half of the opening pair.
The next spot is a bit of a battle between three younger players - Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill. While Gill has been a consistent run-aggregator domestically ever since his breakthrough U-19 World Cup season in 2018, the other two have more domestic and IPL experience.
The most impressive of the lot by some margin in IPL 2020 was Mayank, whose century among several other strong contributions at the top ensured KXIP had solid opening stands. One can expect Gill's technique to be favoured over Samson's erratic aggression in case a backup opener is needed.