India vs Australia 1st ODI Live Updates: It's over! Warner hits a boundary to take his team to the victory line. A 258-run opening partnership between Finch and Warner takes Australia to a comprehensive 10-wicket win in the first ODI. They take a 1-0 lead in the series. India have been completely decimated today. One of the worst losses ever.
Preview: After back-to-back T20I series, the attention shifts to the 50-over format as the ODI series between India and Australia kicks off in Mumbai on Tuesday (14 January). The series will mark the return of regular vice-captain Rohit Sharma who was rested for the T20I series against Sri Lanka.
This is a very strong Australian ODI outfit visiting India, led by Aaron Finch, who has shaped into an able leader since taking the reins from then banned Steve Smith. One can say that most of the Australian players feel at home in India and conditions and pitch would not really bother them. Courtesy the Indian Premier League (IPL), they spend at least a month playing in the league across the country in different stadiums.
Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith, Ashton Turner and Pat Cummins are some of the IPL regulars and their experience of playing in Indian conditions will be very handy for the visitors. Despite such a star-studded squad, most focus will be on Marnus Labuschagne, who has been a phenomenon in Tests since coming in as concussion substitute for Steve Smith during the Ashes. He is expected to feature in the playing XI in Mumbai in the first ODI.
India will be bolstered by the comeback of Jasprit Bumrah to the ODI setup as well. After almost a four-month layoff due to back injury, Bumrah made his comeback in the T20I series where he did well. Bowling 10-over spell will test his fitness further and get him into ODI groove as well.
India have a pretty strong squad in place. But they do have a sweet headache to take care of. And that is KL Rahul. Given the form that he is in, it is going to be very difficult to ask him to warm the bench but that will mean resting Shikhar Dhawan who has not so bad to get dropped. Also, dropping Dhawan means team management plays unnecessarily with well-settled opening combination.
So does Rahul play at No. 4? If that happens, would he be as successful? Is it justice for Shreyas Iyer who has been so good at No. 4 recently? Does Kohli go back at No. 4? There are many questions that the Indian team management will have to answer on 14 January. Nevertheless, it is a great headache to have for any team.
Squads:
India Team Players: Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah Navdeep Saini, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Kedar Jadhav
Australia team players: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa