India vs Australia, 1st ODI: Preview & Predicted Playing XI
After suffering a defeat in the T20I series, hosts India will look to trounce Australia, when they host them for the first game of the ODI series on Saturday, March 2 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Head to Head Overall Stats: Both teams have gone head to head in a 121 completed ODIs against each other. Aussies emerged victorious in 74 of those while the remaining 47 were won by the Men in Blue.
Head to Head in India: In the 51 One Day International fixtures hosted by India, the visitors are sightly heading the scoreline at 26-25. However, at the RGI Stadium in Hyderabad has been lucky for the visitors, as they are yet to lose a game at this ground.
Australia
The visitors were head and shoulder above India in the shortest format. Their unbeaten ODI record against India at this ground should further boost their confidence. They won their earlier two fixtures at this venue by 47 and 3 runs respectively.
Batting
Glenn Maxwell has been in supreme form and was the main reason behind visitors triumph in the T20 series. Maxwell amassed 169 runs in his two outings comprising a steady 56 in the series opener, followed by a scintillating 113 in the second. The all-rounder is likely to pose a major threat in the ODIs as well and the Indian team will be wary of him. Except him, Australia's batting will mostly rely on the performance of Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis and Peter Handscomb. All of them have been in good touch in recent games and will be expected to play big innings in the series opener.
Bowling
Pat Cummins and Jason Behrendorff both snared two wickets in the T20 series and are expected to make a major impact in the ODIs as well. Stoinis is another key man for the Aussies with his ability to pick wickets in pressure situations.
Expected Playing XI
Aaron Finch (C), D'Arcy Short, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (W), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa and Jason Behrendorff.
India
Despite the loss, India will bank on their recent ODI record against the visitors. Kohli's man tumbled the Aussies (2-1) in their own den in January and also boast a strong record against the visitors at the home. The Men in Blue have just lost one out of previous nine fixtures played against Australia in India.
Batting
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are likely to open the batting. Both boast a strong record against the Aussies and the team will need them to provide a strong start. After an impressive show during the T20I series, KL Rahul will give strong competition to Ambati Rayudu for a place in the starting XI. The middle order duties will be born by skipper Kohli and MS Dhoni. Both were in good touch during the T20I series and are most likely to score big for the team.
Bowling
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been rested for the first two ODIs and in his absence, the onus will be on Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami strangle the explosive Aussie lineup. While Bumrah and Shami will look for wickets in the powerplay and death over. Kuldeep and Chahal will be the skipper's go-to men during the middle overs. The spin-twins have wreaked havoc against every team that they have come up against and Kohli would hope that they continue doing the same going into the World Cup.
Expected Playing XI
Virat Kohli (C), Lokesh Rahul, MS Dhoni (W), Kedar Jadhav, Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar/Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.