IND v AUS 2020: "Important to start well and set the momentum" - Virat Kohli sets expectations ahead of 1st ODI against Australia
Indian captain Virat Kohli believes that his side needs to start well in the first ODI on Friday to gain some momentum for the long tour.
Kohli will lead his side to its first international game in months in Sydney. India will play two more games in the ODI series, a 3-match T20I series starting 4th December and 4 Test matches.
Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bat first at the SCG.
After 14-day strict quarantine in Australia, Virat Kohli said that his team has prepared well and is raring to go. Virat Kohli also clarified the opening pair for the team in the first match.
At the toss, Kohli said:
It's important to start well as a team, we need to start strongly and set the momentum for the matches ahead. The preparations have been nice, we got some valuable time (on account of the quarantine). Mayank Agarwal will open - Manish Pandey, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, Natarajan and Sanju Samson are the five players missing out.
Virat Kohli and Aaron Finch to be the players to watch out
International cricket will be back in its full fervor when Virat Kohli's men will step on the field against Aaron Finch's Australia. The matches in the series will be played in front of some socially-distanced crowds which is the first such instance since the coronavirus pandemic imposed restrictions started to kick in.
At the toss, Finch said:
Great to have cricket back in Australia, to play in front of crowds will be nice. The wicket looks good, hopefully, we can put runs on the board and defend. Steve Smith is back, he replaces Mitchell Marsh
Both the captains are coming from a mediocre IPL 2020 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and would be the two main players to watch out for.
India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini
Australia (Playing XI): Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood