India, Australia bolt horns with eye on World Cup

Sydney: The Twenty20 Internationals were shared and India dominated, for the most part, in the Tests, but with the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 fast approaching, the one-day internationals assume greater importance.

The two sides have a lot of inquiries they'd like replied at the earliest opportunity. The three ODIs – in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne – will go far towards helping them set up plans.

India have 16 ODIs left before the World Cup, and keeping in mind that they have a reasonable thought of the squad they will take to England, there are mixes inside that must be elucidated. Will MS Dhoni be held or will Dinesh Karthik have his spot? Who are the back-ups to Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar? Do both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal play all matches?

A couple of these inquiries may be replied in the coming days, and a lot of eyes will be on Dhoni specifically – his all-encompassing lean fix has put his place under investigation more than ever, and the veteran will would like to recover the kind of frame that made him a world-mixer.

On otharhand, the Australian quick bowler Peter Siddle has been incorporated into the side following a stretch of eight years. Siddle played his most recent one-day coordinate in 2010 against Sri Lanka. The 34-year-old has scalped a sum of 15 wickets for Australia in 17 ODIs that he played with an economy rate of 4.64.

Finch reported, wicket attendant batsman Alex Carry as his opening accomplice for the up and coming one-day arrangement. Carey, who had a stunning Big Bash League season this year, has been advanced up in the batting request.

Teams:

Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk) Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff

India (from): Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami

Pitch and condtions:
There is rain both on the eve of the match and the day after it, but match day is expected to be clear and sunny. If the pitch is anything like the one in the Tests, in which India scored 622 first-innings runs, expect batsmen to lick their lips.

Stats and trivia

• Peter Siddle will become the first Australian player to make a comeback in ODIs after a gap of eight years. He last played an ODI in 2010.
• Rohit has scored 50-plus runs in his three ODI innings against Australia - 125, 65, 71. He is the second highest run-scorer for India against Australia in ODIs.
• Dhawan needs 65 runs for 5000 in ODIs; Jadeja needs 18 for 2000 runs.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs one more wicket for 100 one-day wickets.
• Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh are the only players to have scored 400-plus runs for Australia in ODIs since the start of 2018. Both have scored three tons each during that period.

Match facts
Saturday, 12 January, 2019
Start time: 13:20 local (02:20 GMT, 7.50am IST)