KL Rahul won the toss and opted to field first against Australia at Mohali on Friday. The three-match ODI series starts today at home before the ICC showpiece, the ODI World Cup, kicks off in October.
KL Rahul will lead the men in blue for the first two ODIs against the visiting Aussies with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli being rested.
The men in blue will come into the series in ebbing spirits following their dominant performance in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2023, in which the Rohit-led team clinched a record 8th title.
The series was notable for the record win against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Super 4 fixture and the double-digit bundling out of hosts Sri Lanka in the championship clash, which India won with 10 wickets to spare.
The Indian unit delivered with both the bat and the ball over the course of the tournament with lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s roaring return to the centre being the icing on the cake.
Bumrah’s performance on his ODI return, following the 11-month period on the sidelines with a troublesome back injury that kept him out, turned out to be magical at most times as the 29-year-old wreaked havoc.
Mohammed Siraj’s spell in the summit clash will remain fresh in the minds of cricket fans for a long while to come as the seamer bamboozled the Sri Lankan batting order, dismissing batsmen at will in the crucial fixture.
KL Rahul, who also returned from an injury layoff, notched up a brilliant century to take some pressure off himself ahead of the headline tournament on home soil.
Virat Kohli’s magnificent ton against Pakistan would also boost the morale of the Indian population who look to the former captain and ace batsman to deliver on the grandest of stage, as he so often does.
Australia on the other hand will come into the series looking to turn things around following their disappointing 2-3 series loss against South Africa despite having been 2-0 ahead after the opening couple of games in the series.
The first ball will be bowled at 1:30 PM IST on Friday.
India:
Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(C/Wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami
Australia:
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis(Wk), Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Short, Pat Cummins(C), Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa