Preview
India begin their Cricket World Cup Super League campaign with the ODI series against Australia this Friday. The first two ODIs of the series are to be played in Sydney while the final one will take place in Canberra.
India come off the back of a 0-3 drubbing in the ODI series against New Zealand earlier this year although with the lockdown and subsequent IPL series, it’s old news now. They had also played Australia in a series in India earlier this year with India coming back from 0-1 down to win the series 2-1.
Australia, on the other hand, have had more international cricket in recent times with them playing a series in England. A lot of their players also come off the back of a hectic IPL season.
Team news and predicted XI
India have a decision to make at the opening slot with Rohit Sharma absent. Shikhar Dhawan will likely be partnered by one of Shubman Gill or Mayank Agarwal. KL Rahul will likely play in the middle-order and don the keeping gloves.
Australia will have Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith in the middle-order with David Warner and Aaron Finch starting at the top. It is likely that they will play Marcus Stoinis back down the order now that Smith has come back from the concussion that kept him out of the ODIs against England.
Predicted XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia
Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
Fantasy tips
- Australia are strong at home and the pace and bounce on the wicket suits their batters and pacers. So going heavy on them is ideal.
- Finch is the highest run-scorer in 2020 in ODIs and is a good pick.
- Shikhar Dhawan might have had a good IPL, but in a bilateral series in Australia, his returns cannot be trusted. On the contrary, Rahul keeps and has had success in the middle-order and is a good pick alongside Kohli, who is an obvious pick.
- Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal are both wicket-takers and are maybe better picks than Bumrah in this format as Australia are likely to look to play out Bumrah which reduces his fantasy potential.
- Starc and one of Cummins or Hazlewood have to be picked.
- Jadeja is a better pick over the Australian all-rounders..
Fantasy XI
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
David Warner
Steven Smith
Marnus Labuschagne
Aaron Finch
Ravindra Jadeja
Mohammed Shami
Yuzvendra Chahal
Mitchell Starc
Josh Hazlewood
