IND vs AUS 2017: Aussies look to bounce back against confident India at Eden Gardens

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Kolkata: A confident Indian team will have their tails up following their emphatic victory in the series opener against Australia at Chepauk. Virat Kohli and his team recorded a 26 runs win in the rain curtailed first ODI in Chennai. Weather prediction for the second ODI at the Eden Gardens doesn’t look encouraging though as rain might again play a spoilsport here.

India registered a great comeback win over the Aussies in Chennai after being found reeling at 87/5 before all rounder Hardik Pandya (83) and MS Dhoni (79) scripted a match winning partnership of 118 runs for the sixth wicket. The Kangaroos were found wanting as they faltered in the rain-truncated chase.

The Australians once again could not train at the turf of the Eden Gardens. Although it did not stop the Aussie think tank to have a brief look at the wicket as the covers were removed for a brief period.

According to the Aussie skipper, “There is a little bit of grass on it. It’s more than I’ve seen in India for a while. Looks alright, few cracks on the wicket but I don’t think they will play a part. Looks the wicket’s been used somewhere.”
The Australians will be deciding on their playing eleven after having a look at the wicket tomorrow morning.
“I will have another look tomorrow, see what the weather is doing, they might cut it (grass) I don’t know and then take a call on the team,” said Smith while talking to the reporters at the Eden Gardens.

The visitors trained at the indoor nets on Wednesday. The Aussie batsmen were seen focussing more on playing spin as they found wanting against the likes of Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzuvendra Chahal. As many as three local chinaman bowlers were seen bowling at the Austalian nets. All these bowlers were asked to bowl at the nets by Australia’s spin bowling consultant S Sriram. Both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzuvendra Chahal accounted for 5 wickets between them in the first ODI.

With the covers being on the ground for the last three days, the wicket might be damp as well.

The current Australian team has quite a few players who have played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Aussie fast bowler Nathan Coulter Nile, who wrecked havoc at the start of the Indian innings at Chepauk played for KKR last season. He bowled really well the other day, returning best innings figures of 3/44 which included the prize wicket of Virat Kohli who departed without troubling the scorers.

In team news, the Aussies will miss the services of opener Aaron Finch who injured his calf muscle during training in Chennai. Hilton Cartwright, who made his debut in the first ODI, is expected to keep his place with Travis Head batting at No.4. The visitors might be inclined to play an extra spinner in Ashton Agar if the wicket proves to be damp. Marcus Stoinis in that case will have to sit out as he looked all at sea against the Indian spinners.

The hosts might give Ajinkya Rahane another chance to open the batting alongwith Rohit Sharma. Rahane failed in the first game managing just five runs from 15 deliveries. At No.4, KL Rahul could stake a claim after Manish Pandey failed to impress in the last tie scoring a duck.

Rohit and Eden have a special relationship and the last time India won at the venue, Rohit shattered the ODI record books in 2014. The Mumbai batsman hammered a world record 264 against Sri Lanka and India went on to win by 153 runs.

Australia has a 100 per cent record, and fond memories at Eden. It was at the iconic groundf that thery lifted their their maiden World cup, thirty years back in 1987. Back then, Alan Border’s side had beaten England by seven runs in the final.

The tourists’ turned out in their only other ODI game at the Eden in 2003, opposite India. Australia won by 37 runs.

But at this moment, all eyes are focussed heavenwards, with the met office predicting thundershowers on Thursday . Another shortened cricketing contest is also within the realms of possibility, as the city has been lashed by spells of heavy showers over the past few days.

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Adam Zampa