Series on the line for India, Australia

Overview

India v Australia5th ODI
Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
Wednesday, 13 March; 1:30pm local time, 8:00am local

When India raced to a 2-0 lead, the impression was that they would brush aside all before them. Australia have done incredibly well to fight back to parity. In fact, while Australia were seen as having concerns heading into the tour, it’s India who seem to have a plethora of problems at this point.

Not many gave Australia a chance, given India came out better in their clashes Down Under. But the visitors swept the two-match Twenty20 International series 2-0 and competed impressively even in defeat in the first two ODIs.

They secured the results in Ranchi and Mohali, and on the upswing now, might even be considered favourites, just about, to win this final clash with India having plenty to sort.

The home side just haven’t been able to click in tandem. While the bowlers shored things up in India’s victories in Hyderabad and Nagpur, the batsmen struggled. That struggle continued in the third ODI in Ranchi. In Mohali, while India’s batsmen finally came good to post 358/9, albeit on a flat track, the bowlers struggled, and chances went abegging in the field.

Virat Kohli, the India captain, admitted his side were “sloppy” and said that was what cost them in Mohali. Dew was also a factor, but what India also missed was their captain in and around the epicentre during the death overs when Ashton Turner was pillaging the bowlers.

Kohli usually mans the boundaries in the death, being one of India’s better fielders, and leaves MS Dhoni to manage the middle. But with Dhoni being rested for the final two ODIs and Kohli fielding in the deep, there was no presence in the middle in that crucial phase of the match.

Unlike in Mohali, where history favoured Australia, India have beaten Australia in three of the four ODIs they have played at the Kotla. Their last match, however, came in 2009. India generally have a good record at the Kotla: they have won 12 of the 19 ODIs they have played at this venue, although they lost the last one, in 2016, against New Zealand.

Key players
Yuzvendra Chahal (India): One of India’s usually devastating wrist-spinning duo, Chahal had a poor outing in Mohali. He claimed just one wicket and conceded 80 runs in his 10 overs. He will be keen to put that behind as soon as he can. A performance at the Kotla – he returned 2/26 in a T20I against New Zealand in his only international outing at this venue, in 2017 – will go a long way towards that.

Usman Khawaja (Australia): Khawaja is 32 and made his ODI debut back in 2013. However, the Mohali ODI was just the 25th in his career, and it’s safe to say he has never really laid an undeniable claim to an ODI slot. Until now. He scored 91 in Mohali to follow up his century in Ranchi. There was also a half-century in Hyderabad. India will have learned to be wary of him.

Conditions
It’s expected to be cloudy in Delhi on Wednesday. But there’s no threat of rain, and with a high of 26°C, playing conditions are comfortable. The average first-innings score at this venue in ODIs is around 234; there’s only ever been two scores in excess of 300 in 24 ODIs.

Squads
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye