It’s India versus Australia again, and everybody knows that the two teams can’t stand the sight of each other. The last time India played Australia, we had a war like situation between the two set of players.
While Virat Kohli, the Indian captain did nothing of note as a batsman in the Test series against Australia, one can say that no other player has ever got under the skin of the Australians as much as Kohli did. Australian cricketers HATE Kohli, Australian supporters HATE Kohli and most noticeably, Australian supporters HATE Kohli.
As Virat himself said to the media in a press conference- “You can say what you want, you can keep talking the whole time but if you don’t deliver on the field it doesn’t matter. All those things are to get that aspect of mind games which I think creates an excitement for the fans watching as well. And also the players involved in the series, you know, that becomes more exciting and players are more pumped up to win games and outdo each other.”
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So any contest between India and Australia will have Virat Kohli at the centre-stage. This time though, India are the firm favourites and Australia look a shadow of their former selves. Australia were knocked out of the ICC Champions Trophy in the group stages and were terrible in the recent series against Bangladesh, barely managing to draw the Test series 1-1.
It is as though the pay dispute against the Australian Cricket Board has drawn out all energy from the players. Steven Smith has not really been inspirational leader. He has done nothing worth remembering since becoming the captain of the Australian team. He is a part of the problem rather than the solution.
India are an exciting team, a young team. They have always had a great batting line-up, but now have a terrific bowling attack comprising of wristspinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav and the world’s best slog overs specialists in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. There is also young Hardik Pandya, who has been a revelation..
The batting actually does not look too great because Shikhar Dhawan is missing. KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav are still making their way in international cricket and Ajinkya Rahane has never impressed in ODIs. MS Dhoni is not getting any younger, so a lot would depend on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Australia have an opportunity there.
The Teams
India: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Manish Pandey/KL Rahul, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Peter Handscomb, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Adam Zampa
Match conditions
The Monsoon is still on in India, so we could have rain tomorrow at Chennai. The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is a typical Indian surface and should help batsmen more than bowlers.
Watch India play Australia at 1:30 pm on Sunday live on Star Sports!
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