With a fortnight to go for cricket’s biggest carnival, India will take on Australia in the first ODI at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Friday. The three-match ODI series will be used by both teams to sharpen their skills, get used to the conditions, and address any grey areas before the mega event kicks off.

There is no doubt that both India and Australia will enter the World Cup as two of the favorites and they will aim to strike the right chord before the big event.

India will be high on confidence after winning the Asia Cup by obliterating Sri Lanka in the final. On the other hand, Australia will look to get back to winning ways after losing the five-match ODI series against South Africa.

India has rested players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav and thus it will be a perfect opportunity for other players like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav to make a case for themselves.

Stats Preview:

Ishan Kishan requires 163 runs to complete the 1000-run mark in the ODI format.

Another two sixes will help KL Rahul reach 50 maximums in ODI form.

David Warner needs one more six to complete 100 maximums in the 50-over format.

Steve Smith requires 61 runs to get to the milestone of 5,000 runs in his ODI career.

Glenn Maxwell needs 10 more runs to complete the 3500-run mark in the ODI version.

Mitchell Starc needs 17 runs to complete 500 runs in his ODI career.

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

India squad for first two ODIs: KL Rahul (captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, J Bumrah, M Siraj, M Shami, Tilak Varma, Prasidh Krishna, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar