IND vs AUS: The opening match of the ODI series against Australia will set the tone for the World Cup

New Delhi. All-rounder Hardik Pandya’s leadership skills will be put to test as India prepare for the World Cup later this year when they take on Australia in a three-match ODI series here on Friday. Regular skipper Rohit Sharma is not available for this match due to family commitments and Pandya will lead the team in his absence. Under the captaincy of Pandya, Gujarat Giants won the title in their first season of the Indian Premier League. He has been leading the Indian team in T20 Internationals for some time now.

After winning the four-match Border-Gavaskar series 2-1 against Australia and booking a ticket to the World Test Championship final to be held in June, the Indian team is now gearing up for the World Cup in the 50-over format. Would like to The ODI World Cup will be held in India in October-November this year. India won its last World Cup on home soil in 2011 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Keeping this in mind, similar success would be expected from the team led by Rohit Sharma.

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The Indian team has made a great start to this year by winning all six matches in the ODI format in two separate series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. In these six ODIs, Shubman Gill has scored 567 runs with three centuries and an average of 113.40. In the absence of Rohit in the first match, he will be under pressure to give a good start to the team. A similar performance would be expected from him after his Test century against Australia in the fourth and final match at Ahmedabad.

Kohli, who scored an innings of 186 runs in the Test in Ahmedabad, has already left behind the poor form of limited overs. He has scored 338 runs this year at an impressive average of 67.60 and would like to take his tally of 75 international hundreds against favorite rivals Australia. It will be interesting to see how Kohli faces Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa during this period. Zampa’s record against the Indian run machine has been excellent. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled together during an optional practice session here on Wednesday.

Both these leg-spinners can become important weapons in the Indian attack in their ability to take wickets and in limited overs cricket. Kuldeep has been India’s best spinner this year with 11 wickets in five matches, while among fast bowlers, Mohammad Siraj has taken 14 wickets in the same number of matches. Australia’s team has the ability to win the match under any circumstances despite the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins. Five-time World Cup winner Australia also wants to finalize its preparations for the World Cup to be held in October-November this year.

Steve Smith will lead Australia in the absence of Cummins. The team did well under his captaincy in the last two Test matches. Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are not available for this ODI series but experienced batsman David Warner and all-rounder Ashton Agar have joined the national team. Both these players returned home during the Test series. This will be the first ODI of this year for the Australian team.

Both the teams are as follows:

India: Hardik Pandya (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Lokesh Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur , Akshar Patel and Jaydev Unadkat.

Australia: Steve Smith (Captain), David Warner, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Josh English, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa.

The match will start at 01:30 pm.

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