The 3rd and final ODI in the India vs Australia series is all set to take place in Rajkot.
India have already clinched the series 2-0 away from the Aussies, but will be looking forward to keep their momentum going as they approach the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in another week.
Today is the last official ODI before the World Cup begins for both sides. While they’ll still have a couple more warm-up games before the actual tournament, this game will serve as an opportunity to make sure everything is strapped in tight and bolted firmly in place.
Australia went on to win the toss and captain Pat Cummins said, “We’re going to have a bat. Looks like a good wicket, not sure how it’ll change in the 100 overs. Good to get game time for everyone, don’t want to go into a world cup cold. Results haven’t gone our way but good day to change that. Different conditions here but we’ve played a lot over here so no surprises. We’ve made five changes, Starc and Maxwell are back. Tanveer Sangha is making his debut.”
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma state: “Conditions are much better here, looks like there’s good weather. Decent temperature as well, we’re just looking forward to this game. The breaks are more important from a mental perspective than a physical one. Very happy with how we played, almost everything we wanted to do we got it done. Gives us a chance for us to see what we want to do.
“Looks a bit dry, it’s going to play slightly better under lights, we wanted to chase anyway. Let’s see if we can make use of the two new balls. Myself, Virat, Kuldeep are all back. From the last game, Ashwin is also missing, Washington is in. Ishan is not well, he’s got viral fever so he misses out.”
INDIA’S STARTING XI:
Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
AUSTRALIA’S STARTING XI:
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Pat Cummings (c), Mitchell Starc, Tanveer Sangha.