India vs Australia 2017: Probable Indian ODI squad
After comprehensively thrashing Sri Lanka 9-0 across all formats, India will be looking to carry that form into a busy home season that will see them play 23 internationals from September 17 before they travel to South Africa in the final week of December. With a settled ODI squad, India won't be looking to make too many changes but given the amount of cricket that they will play, they might look to rest a few players.
Two players they certainly won't be resting are captain Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, who both enjoyed a sublime tour of Sri Lanka. The openers along with the bulk of the middle-order are likely to remain the same, which might make it tough for the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina to make a comeback.
With the announcement of the squad not too far away, here are the probable players that will make it to the 15-man squad to face Australia.
Openers
Shikhar Dhawan
Despite missing the final two matches of India's tour of Sri Lanka to be with his ailing, Shikhar Dhawan has done more than enough to retain his place in the Indian ODI side. The 31-year-old continued his good form from the Champions Trophy and the series against West Indies to this tour, where he scored an unbeaten century and 49 in the first two matches.
Although his form tailed off after that, he will be raring to go against Australia and cement his spot for the busy home season ahead.
Rohit Sharma
Going into the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma didn't have an impressive ODI record in the country. After a sublime Champions Trophy, he was rested for the limited-overs series against West Indies but came strongly to score three consecutive fifty-plus scores against Sri Lanka, including back-to-back hundreds. He will look to continue that against Australia.
Ajinkya Rahane
Despite finishing as the Man of the Series in the five-match ODI series against West Indies, in which he scored four consecutive fifty-plus scores, Ajinkya Rahane played just one ODI in the tour of Sri Lanka. That he had to wait for Dhawan to be unavailable just shows how strong and settled the Indian opening pair are. With KL Rahul's poor form, expect the 29-year-old to find his spot in the ODI squad for the Australia series.