It will be crunch time for the Men in Blue when they face Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series at Rajkot, Friday. The hosts were hammered by a clinical Australia in the first game with the visitors going on to win by 10 wickets. A loss at Rajkot would mean that the Aussies would clinch the series.
Against such a backdrop, the Indian think-tank needs to come up with some answers. India have showed that they have the ability to bounce back, they did so in the T20 series against the West Indies. After being a game down, India won the next two in succession to win the recently-concluded series.
But then Australian pack more power than either the West Indies or the Bangladeshis who the Indians played recently. There are discussions about team changes for the Rajkot game. Here’s what India’s team will probably be.
Well for starters KL Rahul will replace Rishabh Pant behind the stumps and he may bat lower down the order as skipper Virat Kohli is sure to come in at No.3. At Mumbai, the captain dropped down to No.4, a move which was criticized by all and sundry. So there will be reshuffle in the batting order for sure.
Pant is out of the game with concussion related issues and in all probability Manish Pandey will take his place. The Karnataka player’s fielding is a huge plus point, it is much better than that of Kedar Jadhav. In this game every run saved will be vital for India.
The other change that is being talked about is the inclusion of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in place of Ravindra Jadeja. The former is an attacking option and India would like to see the back of players like Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith as quickly as possible. But one shouldn’t forget Jadeja’s fielding and batting abilities also.
Also to win the Rajkot game, the Indian pacers will have to come good. In the last game Mohammed Shami (58 runs off 7.4 overs), Jasprit Bumrah (50 off 7) and Shardul Thakur (43 off 5) were huge disappointments. Shami and Bumrah will have to come good Friday and India will probably play Navdeep Saini in place of Thakur.
The probable India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja/Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur/Navdeep Saini.
January 11, 2013: Lost to England by nine runs
October 18, 2015: Lost to South Africa by 18 runs
Match begins at 1.30pm
Live on Star Sports channels
PNN