India are down 3-0 in the series and have reached a point where they got nothing more to lose anymore. Their reputation is already in tatters, especially that of Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has been abysmal throughout the series.
What was shocking about the losses was how easily the entire team gave up, never putting up even a semblance of a fight. Australia have never won 3 easier cricket matches, despite giving away around 300 runs to the opposition. The Australian batsmen were never under any kind of pressure.
The only time the Aussies lost more than 5 wickets was in the last match at MCG, where they were carried through to the victory comfortably by a massive unbroken partnership for the 7th wicket between the amazing Glenn Maxwell and the ever reliable James Faulkner. India were in the hunt, but only for a brief while.
[table id=33 /]
It’s not just the bowling that is at fault for India’s poor show so far. The batting is very much top-heavy and apart from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, none of the others really looked anywhere close to being combative. Shikhar Dhawan may have made 65 in the last match, but he took a long time to get going and wasted the first 5 overs of the innings, failing to give India a quick start. Surely, that hurt in the end, which is why India could only end up with a score of 295.
It’s hard to tell what the Indians can do to win a match in this series. The fact is they have been completely dominated by the Aussies. It doesn’t look likely that the Aussies will want to give up the huge advantage they have picked up over India.
Canberra’s Manuka Oval is a relatively new ground and it has a large playing surface, even bigger than the one at MCG. Indians will be made to run ragged in the field by the Australian batsmen and there’s no room for weak throwing arms. Unfortunately, apart from Ravindra Jadeja and maybe Virat Kohli, none of the Indians have a strong throwing arm, so one might as well add 30-40 runs to the Australian total every match because of this.
Glenn Maxwell has been sensational both as a batsman and a bowler. He won the last match with the bat and has the best economy rate in the series of 5.61. He has been able to do the job that his captain Steven Smith has asked for. For India, Ravindra Jadeja has been the best bowler, but that’s not saying much, given how well the Aussies have dominated the Indian bowling.
Ravi Ashwin is expected to sit out tomorrow’s match as well. We expect Bhuvneshwar Kumar to replace Barinder Sran, who has done precious little after his decent debut in the first match.
The Teams
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith (capt.), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9, John Hastings, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Nathan Lyon/Scott Boland
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Manish Pandey/Gurkeerat Mann, 6 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin/Rishi Dhawan, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Umesh Yadav/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Barinder Sran/Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Match Conditions
It’s going to be a bright and sunny day in Canberra tomorrow. We expect a plenty of runs, just as in the first three matches and an advantage for the side batting second.
Watch India take on Australia in the 4th ODI at 8:50 am tomorrow live on Star Sports!
