India vs Australia 2nd ODI: 3 reasons why Australia starts as the favourites
The Australian cricket team came out all guns blazing and annihilated India in the first ODI of the three match series on January 14, 2020. The Kangaroos fired in all three departments of the game and handed India a thrashing at home.
And now, they have the chance of beating India again in an ODI home series. The last time when Australia visited Indian shores in 2019, they beat the ‘Men in Blue’ 2-3, and they have the chance of doing an encore this time around as well.
In this article, let us look at three reasons why Australia starts as the favorites for the second ODI.
#3. India’s middle order conundrum
At the start of the series, the Indian team had a seemingly good headache to have. The trio of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan were in good form with the bat, and as a result, it was tough to leave out any of them out of the playing eleven. So, skipper Kohli decided to include all the three in the playing eleven for the first ODI. Now, this could well prove to be detrimental for India.
Accommodating all three of them in the line-up, means that the skipper Virat Kohli has to bat at No.4. Kohli has been the world’s batsman at the No.3 slot and his numbers reveal the same. In the 180 innings that he has batted at one down in ODIs, he has scored 9509 runs at a colossal average of 63.39.
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Now, if Kohli sacrifices his position in the batting order and comes in at No.4, it means that he will have lesser chances to control the proceedings of the match. Also, Shreyas Iyer, who was an excellent find for the No.4 slot gets pushed down to No.5.
This presents a problem for India, something that was visible in the first ODI.
Also Read: More than batting order reshuffle, India need mindset change