It’s India versus Australia again, this time in a one day international. The last time the two top dogs of world cricket played each other, it was an occasion every Indian cricket fan would like to forget in a hurry. Yes, we are talking about the World Cup semi-final at the SCG, of course. Australia were all over India that day.
But that was in 2015, and now it’s 2016. What does 2016 have in prospect for the Indian team? To start off with, there is the 5 match ODI series against Australia, followed by 3 T20s. Then there is the big even – the T20 World Cup, where the Indians will be counted among the favorites to win.
The Indian cricket team is in a very positive frame of mind, having destroyed the world’s #1 Test side South Africa in the 4-match Test series. But that was under the young Virat Kohli as captain. The ODIs will see the old war horse Mahendra Singh Dhoni back.
It may be said that Dhoni’s cricket career is on its last legs. Indian cricket has moved on from Dhoni. It is unlikely that he will be given as many chances as he was given in the past. A failure here may well signal the end of his days in international cricket. What’s dangerous for Dhoni is that nobody cares if leaves – India have a readymade replacement in young Virat Kohli.
What about Australia? Well, the old generation in Australia has been cleared out. No more Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin, who have all retired. Shane Watson has been dropped. Young Steven Smith is now the captain, and he is in a lot of ways similar to India’s own Virat Kohli. Smith, like Kohli, is the dominant batsman in his team, around whom the entire batting line-up revolves.
India have dropped the likes of Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and even Suresh Raina, who was for long a permanent fixture in the side. There’s fresh blood in the Indian side with the uncapped Barinder Sran, Gurkeerat Singh and Rishi Dhawan.
Young fast bowler Barinder Sran in particular has shown a lot of pace in the practice matches and he is expected to play. Rishi Dhawan is an allrounder who bowls with speed and can strike a few lusty blows at the end – so he will get his opportunities too.
Australia has two new players in fast bowlers Joel Paris and Scott Boland. Paris is someone who has shown a lot of promise. He may not have the pace of Mitchell Starc, but is known to get a lot of movement with the ball. Skipper Smith expects Paris to do well: “Traditionally we like to play a left-armer here who can use the breeze and move the ball so hopefully he’ll be able to do that for us tomorrow.”
Team news
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 Scott Boland, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Joel Paris
India : 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Gurkeerat Singh/Manish Pandey, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Barinder Sran, 11 Ishant Sharma/Axar Patel/Rishi Dhawan
Match Conditions
The WACA pitch at Perth is known to offer pace and bounce. We expect a clear day with no rain in prospect with a top temperature of 26C.
Watch India take on Australia in the 1st ODI at Perth at 8:50 am tomorrow on Star Sports!
