India hope to seal series win while Australia eye fightback to remain afloat

India started their ODI series against Australia with a clinical win and now as the series heads further, they will try and get the momentum rolling further in their favour, particularly with the fate of the fray hanging sharply in balance now.

The hosts will try and put the contest to bed as that would allow them to try and experiment with their bench for the series finale wherein the visitors will exhaust their strong pointers in order to get the wheels rolling for themselves.

The opening fixture of the series witnessed India showcasing a strong bowling unit led by the fast-bowling duo of Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. However, they will have to turn their eyes towards their spinners who were decent but were not as productive as expected.

However, India will also have their task cut out when it comes to the batting department, particularly with their top-order unable to face the heat that Mitchell Starc brought to the fore. In recent times, the shorter formats of the game have seen the Indian top-order struggle with the seam that is often tagged as the bedfellow of a new ball.

Australia, on the contrary, will try to focus all their attention towards the lower middle-order, hoping Glenn Maxwell to come out in a slightly spookier avatar as the RCB all-rounder can inflict some serious damage to the hopes of India. Cameron Green has been an absolute treat for the visitors’ eyes in the longest and the shortest format of the game but when it comes to ODIs, he will need a lot more than just getting a couple of boundaries.

With all said and done, India will try and bag the 3-match series by tomorrow while Australia will be hoping to set up a cracker for the series finale as the two giants of the game collide for the second time in the series.

Venue Watch:

A total of 14 ODIs have so far been played here with 3 won batting first while the other 9 have been won chasing. The average first innings score is 241 while the average score drops to an alarming 211 for the second innings. The highest total recorded here is 387/5 and it was India who did the honours while the maximum total chased down was 292, achieved by India against Australia.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 144

India: 54

Australia: 80

Match Details:

India vs Australia

Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam

19th March, 2023

1:30 PM IST

Squads:

India:  

Rohit Sharma (c), Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Washington Sundar, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia: 

Steve Smith (c) Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.