Internet Desk: A confident Team India will look to continue its dominance over Australia as the two sides go head to head in the 3rd ODI at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The Indians, particularly the bowlers are in red hot form going into the match and they would look to pile on the misery for the visitors.
Cynosure of all eyes will be on Kuldeep Yadav who achieved a hat-trick in the second ODI at the Eden Gardens. The chinaman bowler was the third Indian bowler to achieve a hattrick in One Day Internationals. Medium pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have all been consistent with the ball. Bhuvneshwar was the pick of the Indian bowlers at Eden Gardens, bowling a miserly opening spell. He gave away only 9 runs in his first six overs and picked both the Australian openers Warner and Cartwright. But the many worry for the Australian batting has been the two Indian wrist spinners. Both Kuldeep and Yuzuvendra Chahal has made the Kangaroos dance to their tunes so far in the series.
Australia’s plight could easily be gauged from the fact that eight of their batsmen could not touch double-digit scores in Chennai, while only four of them could score more than 10 runs in Kolkata.
Although Virat Kohli may say that his side has all bases covered but there are areas of concerns as well. If the top order floundered in the series-opener, the middle order squirmed in Kolkata, where the bowlers won the match for the hosts.
Rohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey have not made any substantial contribution in the team’s cause so far. So, another failure from them might influence the selectors to get in a replacement as the squad for the remaining two ODI’s will be picked tomorrow. The team management may look to give KL Rahul a chance as he has been warming the benches for the last few ODI’s.
The biggest positive for India has been the emergence of Hardik Pandya as a bowling all-rounder. He has looked good both with the bat and ball.
The 70-yard short boundary on all sides at the Holkar Stadium would give the batsmen of both the teams chance to get a lot of runs. It has been a happy hunting ground for the Indians with both India captain Virat Kohli (211) and Ajinkya Rahane (188) getting big hundreds here last year against New Zealand in the third Test.
The Australian new ball bowlers, particularly Nathan Coulter Nile and Pat Cummins has been extremely consistent with their pace. Both of them have troubled the top order Indian batting. Cummins, who will be returning back after the ODI seris will look to come make a mark in the do or die encounter at Indore. But the major concern for the visitors is their spinners.
Adam Zampa was taken to the cleaners by Pandya in Chennai and was immediately replaced by Ashton Agar at Eden Gardens. But the left arm spinner didn’t look impressive at all in the second ODI.
The injury to Aaron Finch has really hurt the Aussies so far but the star opener will be a part of the playing XI tomorrow. The attacking opener missed the first two matches due to a calf muscle injury and his presence at the top of the batting order will boost the morale of the team. The visitors will also look forward to David Warner to come good at Indore. Glenn Maxwell also did not look to stay at the wicket for a long time.
The curator has already predicted that wrist spinners will be effective on Holkar track, giving India enough reasons to smile.