Team India is set to host Australia for a 3-match ODI series at home. It will be the last bilateral assignment for both teams before the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Team India has given rest to some of their main players for the first two ODIs, considering the long tournament ahead. Today, we will talk about the strongest playing XIs for the India vs Australia series. So let’s start.
Australia tour of India 2023
Australia will travel to India for a long two-and-a-half-month tour, which includes a 3-match ODI series, an ODI WC, and a 5-match T20I series against India.
The first game of the ODI series will be played on September 22 at Mohali. Indore and Rajkot will host the 2nd and 3rd ODI on September 24 and 27 respectively.
Squad of both the teams for the ODI series:-
Team India gives rest to some of the players
Some of the main players like captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav have been rested for the first two ODIs. All the players will be back for the 3rd ODI.
Inclusion of two off-spinners in the team
Team India has included two off-spinners, Ravi Ashwin and W Sundar in the squad. Probably, they might look at the off-spinner as an option for the CWC 2023. It will bring variety to their spin attack. Team India’s spinners for the WC 2023 are left-arm spinners, and two of them are of the same quality (Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel).
If Axar Patel does not get fit in time, we might see one of the off-spinner in the WC 2023 squad.
Australia’s main players will be back
Australia will be boosted with some of their main players like Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, M Starc, and a regular captain Pat Cummins will be back.
Although Travis Head is not available, Australia will play with a near-perfect strength team.
India’s squad for the first two ODIs:-
KL Rahul (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja (Vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
India’s squad for the 3rd ODI:-
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, SK Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav
Australia’s squad for the ODI series against India:-
Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Let us now see the best XI of both teams for the ODI series.
India’s possible XI for the first ODI:-
Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (c) and (wk), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, M Siraj
Talking points:-
- Ruturaj might open the inning in the absence of Rohit Sharma. If Shreyas gets fit, Team India can also open with Ishan Kishan, and Iyer might play in the middle order. That’s because Ruturaj is not in the WC squad. And the other two will get the game time before the WC.
- We have picked W Sundar ahead of R Ashwin because the former was a part of the Asia Cup 2023 final. But we might see Team India experimenting with Ashwin in the next game to give him ample game time as well.
India’s XI for the 3rd ODI:-
- All the players will be back for the 3rd So we might see a full-strength team in the last ODI.
Possible playing XI:-
Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer (subject to fitness)/ Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj
Australia’s possible XI:-
Australia will also look to play the best players available in the squad.
Possible playing XI:-
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), M Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazelwood
Conclusion
So these are the possible playing XI of both the teams. Let’s see how this series panned out. Team India is coming into the series with an Asia Cup 2023 win. On the other hand, Australia lost an ODI series 2-3 recently against South Africa. Both the team will look to get some confidence into this series.
Team India and Australia, both will play two warm-up games before the WC as well. Both will start their WC campaign against each other on October 07 at Chennai.
What are your predictions for the series? Comment down below. Thank you for reading the article. We hope you like it. Keep following us for the latest sports-related updates.
