A must-win game for India
With its World Cup preparations derailed by successive losses, India would look to re-ignite the spark and keep itself afloat in the ODI tri-series when it takes on an unbeaten Australia in a must win game here on Monday.
With three victories in three matches, the hosts have already qualified for the final in Perth on February 1.
The heavy loss to England in Brisbane means that India will not only have to win both its remaining games, in Sydney and Perth against the English, but win by a decent margin. It will probably need to garner bonus points in both matches.
In that light, perhaps it is good news that Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are available for tomorrow’s game. It remains to be seen though if they will be picked in the playing eleven, especially Jadeja, as there still remains some doubt over his fielding capability in the outfield.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of this match as a hamstring injury continues to bother him. However, at this point his participation in the World Cup is not in doubt.
As such, India’s batting order is nearly pre-decided.
The possibility of debate will be whether Virat Kohli will continue to bat at No. 4.
Statistically, Kohli has done well at both No. 3 and 4. He averages 51.97 at No. 3, scoring 14 of his 21 ODI hundreds there, a run of form that has seen parallels drawn with the likes of Sir Vivian Richards and Ricky Ponting.
The second point of discussion in the Indian dressing room will be the lower-middle order, particularly from the point of view of scoring quick runs in the death overs. Stuart Binny enjoyed a good outing at the Gabba — both with bat and ball — and he is in the World Cup squad to play this double role.
With R. Ashwin, A. Patel (or Jadeja) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar batting after him, it will prolong the batting and strengthen the lower order.
While Mahendra Singh Dhoni has mentioned on a couple of occasions that Binny’s presence will come in handy on helpful wickets, it remains to be seen if the skipper will entertain the thought of playing him on slower tracks as well, like the one at Sydney Cricket Ground.
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