After retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by winning a challenging 2-1 Test series, India shifted their focus to the ODI against Australia, their last three over-50 matches until July. And with the World Cup at home in October and November, each series is an opportunity to hone your best combination.
India started 2023 with ODI wins at home against Sri Lanka and New Zealand and a number of regulars who missed out on those series such as Ravindra Jadeja and Raul KL, they are back now. others like it Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh trousers they are out with injuries, with no definite timetable for their return.
Here are some of the key questions regarding the India team mix in the ODI series against Australia:
Will Shreyas Iyer’s absence open up a spot for Suryakumar Yadav?
Shreyas has been prolific at No. 4 – 805 runs at an average of 47.35 with two hundred and five half-centuries in 20 innings – but injuries have been a problem of late. He missed the ODIs against New Zealand due to a stiff back and is now out of the Australia series with a recurrence of the same problem.
Suryakumar Yadav he took Shreyas’s place during the New Zealand series and scored 31 and 14 in his two innings. However, he has not been able to bring his explosive and consistent T20I form to the ODIs. In over-50 cricket, Suryakumar averages just 28.86 with just two half-centuries in 18 innings. If India are determined to unlock his ODI potential, they could look to give him three more games against Australia.
Was Ishan Kishan the reserve starter again?
Suryakumar will compete with ishan kishan and Rahul for places in the middle order. Kishan batted in the middle order during the New Zealand series but was unable to build on his fastest ODI double-ton record against Bangladesh in December.
After that hit, Kishan was expected to become India’s first-choice starter, but the team management backed shubman gill in that role, a move that has paid off. While Kishan is likely to open with Gill in The absence of Rohit Sharma in the first ODI, he could go back to being a reserve starter once Rohit returns.
Gill has scores of 70, 21, 116, 208, 40* and 112 in six ODI innings this year, all as a starter, making it difficult for Kishan to play when Rohit returns unless team management pick him over Suryakumar in the middle order.
Kishan’s recent form has not helped his cause. Since that double hundred on Chattogram, he has the highest score of 37 in nine innings in cue ball formats. What Kishan does bring is the left foot that is currently lacking in India’s top order, with Pant unavailable and Shikhar Dhawan out of favour.
Rahul starting goalkeeper in Pant’s absence?
Coincidentally, in January 2020, when Australia last toured India for ODIs, Rahul was first considered as a regular wicketkeeping option in white-ball cricket. Pant suffered a concussion in the series opener in Mumbai, opening the door for Rahul and he seized the opportunity with excellent glove work and explosive mid-order hitting; his 52-ball 80 at No. 5 helped India level the series before clinching it 2–1.
Since then, Rahul has become a regular goalkeeper in cue ball cricket, even doing the job for his former IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. In 16 innings for India at No. 5, Rahul has made 658 runs at an average of 50.61 and strike rate of 102.17, at one hundred and six fifty. Having lost his Test spot to Gill, Rahul will be keen to build on his growing mid-order credentials in the ODI format.
What is India’s ideal off-road combination?
One of the key decisions India must make is to strike a balance between batting depth and enough bowling options. In the absence of Jadeja, washington sundar and shardul thakur he filled the role of bowling all-rounders with good results in the New Zealand series.
With Jadeja back, India can further strengthen their hitting depth, especially if all three play: Hardik Pandya, Washington and Jadeja (Axar Patel is also an option).
This will mean that they have three bowling alleys to fill. They could go with Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, or sacrifice Thakur’s hitting at No. 9 for Umran Malikthe bristling rhythm of ‘so Jaydev UnadkatThe variety of the left arm.
The other option they might consider is picking one of Jadeja or Washington at No. 7 and Thakur at No. 8. This will allow them to play a doll’s game on either Yuzvendra Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav, with Shami, Siraj and Malik fighting for two. spaces . Or if they decide the conditions warrant three spinners and just two fast, they have the option of choosing two spinning allrounders, one Wristspinner and two fast bowling specialists, plus Hardik Pandya as their third seam bowling option.
