The two powerhouses of the cricketing world – India and Australia – will be up against each other at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The Chennai track has been a friend of the spinners and thus both teams could think of strengthening their spin battery.
While India has three quality spinners in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin in their ranks, Australia only has Adam Zampa to fall upon.
We look at the current form, head-to-head, players to look out for, and squads of both teams in our match preview.
Current form for India: L W W W L
India has not only been ticking the right boxes but they have been smashing them. The Asian Champions have won six out of their last eight matches and they have their players in prime form. The middle order has also got the runs for Team India and it is a big positive for them.
Current form for Australia: W L L L L
Australia was able to get the much-needed win against India in the last ODI of the series. Earlier, they had lost two matches against the Men in Blue and three on the bounce against the Proteas. However, the likes of Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and David Warner all got runs in the third ODI against India and they will want to carry on the same show in the World Cup.
Head to Head: Matches: 149, Won by Australia: 83, Won by India: 56, NR: 10.
Australia clearly holds the advantage against India in the H2H battle.
Players to look out for: Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli Ishan Kishan, and Mohammed Siraj will hold the key for Team India.
David Warner, Alex Carey, Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, and Glenn Maxwell will be the key players for the visitors.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.
