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Brisbane: Stand-in Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat against India in the 7th ODI of the tri-series at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday.
India have replaced Ravichandran Ashwin with Zaheer Khan and Australia have brought in Ben Hilfenhaus in place of Clint McKay, who is ill.
After an insipid start to their campaign, the Indians have done well to bounce back. They beat both Australia and Sri Lanka and head into this match after having secured a tie in the last game against Sri Lanka.
At the halfway mark India are topping the table, even it is by the slender margin of just a solitary point. Gabba has been a lucky venue for India too: they have beaten Australia here in their previous two clashes.
The good news for India is that in-form opener Gautam Gambhir is not be a victim of India's mysterious rotation policy, since the out-of-form Virender Sehwag is still bothered by a back spasm, which is a blessing in disguise.
With all three teams running neck-to-neck, the Indians do not want to drop their guard, hence the move to bring back both Zaheer Khan in the playing XI.
On the other hand, after being on the top of their game all summer, Australia have taken the reverse gear.
They come to the Gabba having lost two games on the trot, one each to India and Sri Lanka. In their previous match on Friday, they struggled to put up a 150-plus score. Even the fielding has been below par.
Regular captain Michael Clarke has been sidelined due to a hamstring injury while stand-in Ricky Ponting, who scored heavily in the Tests against India, is now facing a run-drought.
The day after putting in their worst batting performance, the Australians had to travel from Sydney to Brisbane, while India have been resting and relaxing here for the last four days.
The heat is well and truly on, both for Ponting and Australia.
India have bowled and fielded exceptionally in their last few games. However, apart from Gambhir and Dhoni, the rest of the batsmen have been found wanting. The batsmen now need to fire collectively.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt) David Warner, Matthew Wade (wk), Peter Forrest, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Daniel Christian, Brett Lee, Mitchell Starc, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus.
