After the successful conclusion of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where India clinched the series 2-1, now both teams are ready to take on each other in the first ODI at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
This three-match ODI series isn’t part of the World Cup Super League either, but it’s a chance for both India and Australia to fine-tune their plans for the ODI World Cup, which is also around the corner. Australia haven’t played ODI cricket since they swept England 3-0 at home in November last year, almost immediately after the 2022 T20 World Cup, and are still getting used to life after Aaron Finch’s international retirement. David Warner is working his way back from an elbow injury and a barren run in the first half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In his first crack at Finch’s opening role, Head rattled off scores of 69, 19, and 152 against England and in his first crack at opening the batting in Test cricket in place of Warner, he enchanced his reputation even further. Maxwell is also back from injury, but Australia will have to contend with the absence of both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Richardson has also joined the Australian squad in the absence of some key players, but they would do well to remind themselves that they are the only team to have beaten India in a bilateral ODI series in India since 2016. Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann have returned home, and now it’s over to Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, the white-ball specialists.
India have to navigate through challenges of their own. Shreyas Iyer will miss his second successive ODI series with injury while Rohit Sharma will not be available for the first game in Mumbai because of family commitments. Jasprit Bumrah faces a race against time to be fit for the ODI World Cup, but in his absence, Mohammed Siraj has emerged as the leader of the pace pack. Shardul Thakur, who made a successful comeback during the ODI series against New Zealand earlier this year, lends greater balance to the side along with the returning Ravindra Jadeja. With all of Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal available for this series, India are spoiled for choice on the spin front.
