India vs Australia, a long awaited matchup between two titans of the ODI world. They very recently had a series in which India won 2-1, however this series will not hold much weightage as both teams were trying out many new players and different lineups. This was used as a way for Australian players to get used to the field and see how their players react. Similarly it was used for Indian players to see how they can adjust to the pitch. The match will be played at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai. This pitch was used by both in March of 2023 when they played each other in the last match of a series. Australia won in a very comfortable fashion, by 21 runs.
Venue Facts: This venue has not been used very often for ODI’s and international matches in general. As before the India Australia match mentioned above, it was last used in 2019 for a match with India vs West Indies. The venue has been used fairly recently for some first class matches. In these matches a huge commonality is the fact that the pitch is very spinner friendly. This has led to spinners being the lead wicket takers from many of these games. It is also worth mentioning that the lead wicket takers have always been left handed spinners.
India Squad: India has a star studded squad which makes it hard to pick the starting 11. There are also a lot of overlaps in these players' skills and benefits. I believe that the starting 11 will be
Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
Suryakumar Yadav
Hardik Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohammed Shami
This is not in batting order, but just categorizing these players. The order will likely look similar to this, but may not be the exact same. Going over this lineup we can see a stack up on the spinners and a higher stack on batsmen. As mentioned before this pitch is very spin favored. I believe that Ashwin will be brought up for this game because of the very impressive showing he had against Australia, and his reputation as a wicket taker and change of pace bowler. I also believe that Kuldeep Yadav will be essential to this game, because he is a left arm spinner as is Jadeja. Yadav seems to have a better turn on the ball, leading him to take more wickets. Although this does not mean that Jadeja is not important as he is a merchant of the field, and is helpful in creating uneasiness in the opposing batters due to his spin which is opposite of Yadav’s.
Australia Squad: Australia’s roster is full of a mix of younger and older players, all who have made a huge name for themselves in the ODI world. It is hard for me to pick who will be in the starting 11, but my best guess is
Mitchell Marsh
David Warner
Steven Smith
Marnus Labuschagne
Alex Carey
Marcus Stoinis
Glenn Maxwell
Pat Cummins
Mithcell Starc
Josh Hazlewood
Adam Zampa
The Aussies may bring about Travis Head as he is a very good batsmen who also bowls spin very effectively when needed. The aforementioned order is very similar to the players that the Australians played with during the third ODI match in the most recent series between India and Australia. This match ended with Australian winning by 66 runs in a very comfortable fashion. I believe that Adam Zampa will be crucial to this game as he is the main spin bowler for the Australian team
Prediction: My prediction for this game will be that Australia wins this game. I believe that the Indian players are on such a huge high after decimating the asia cup and winning most of their previous ODI’s, which will cause a lot of rookie mistakes. I believe that it will be a close match with Australia winning by a margin of 40 runs, or 2 wickets left. I am expecting very beautiful knocks by Kohli and Mitchell Marsh. I believe Kuldeep Yadav will take 2 wickets, and Bumrah will take one as well. I also believe that Zampa will be the reason for the fall of 3 wickets and Mitchell Starc will take one as well. My final score prediction if India bats first is 286/5 and Australia chases that in 43 overs. My final score prediction if Australia bats first is 312 / 8 and India getting to 294/8 in the 50 overs.
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