Australia vs India, 3rd ODI – Match Preview

Australia will lock horns against India in the third ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. The home team took an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the series after winning the second game by two wickets at Adelaide on Thursday.

There were positives for India despite the loss as Rohit Sharma scored a crucial knock of 73 runs, which would have given him a lot of confidence. Furthermore, Shreyas Iyer scored 61 runs but there is no doubt that India were 20 runs short of a par score.

The visitors need to play an in-form Kuldeep Yadav in the final XI and it would be interesting to note if the wrist spinner finally gets his chance in a dead-rubber contest. India has adopted the ploy of playing with three all-rounders in Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Axar Patel to maintain their batting depth but they must find a way to include Yadav into the playing XI.

Furthermore, India has to come up with an improved fielding effort as they gave two chances to Matthew Short, which proved costly. Moreover, India would want Virat Kohli to return to his best after bagging two consecutive ducks.

On the other hand, Australia’s young and inexperienced team has ticked the right boxes. Mitchell Owen, Matthew Short, and Cooper Connolly were able to deliver with the bat after Adam Zampa bagged a four-wicket haul. 

Head to Head: Matches: 154, Won by Australia: 86, Won by India: 58, No result: 10.

Australia ODI Squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.