Australia vs India, India Tour of Australia, 2018/19, Today Match Prediction 15 Jan 2019

aus vs ind Match Prediction & Analysis

The new look Australia, with a retro-kit, pulled off an incredible win against the formidable Indian team at Sydney on Saturday. After Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins were rested, the rookie bowlers delivered for Australia with Jhye Richardson, playing just the 5th ODI, winning the player of the match award.

India, without KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, had to make some decisions regarding playing XI on the eve of the match. Losing the toss did not help either. Chasing below par score of 288, by Sydney’s recent ODI standards anyway, the Indian team endured a massive collapse very early in the innings. However, thanks to incredible Rohit Sharma and, to some extent, MS Dhoni, that India managed to be in the hunt before it went out of hand after Rohit’s dismissal. 

India have lost very rarely in recent times and have come back strongly in the very next game. Australia must be wary of that which makes up for an interesting contest in the 2nd ODI at Adelaide.

 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Australia Preview

Australia should be lauded for the way they overcame the home series loss to India to win the first ODI at Sydney. Inexperience was written all over the Australian squad after top bowlers decided to rest after the exhausting test series. However, that did not stop them from toppling an almost full-strength Indian team.

Jhye Richardson, Jason Beheredorff and Peter Handscomb, who had a combined experience of 19 ODIs before the contest against India, combined to produce a performance where, despite some gusty hitting from Rohit Sharma, the hosts managed a comfortable in the end.

Jhye Richardson, playing just his 5th ODI, was phenomenal with the ball. He was the one responsible for Indian collapse early on that included the wicket of Virat Kohli and then he took the wickets every time the game looked to be tilting towards India. Australia would need a similar performance from him if they are to win the second ODI and gain an unassailable lead in the series.

Australia Predicted Playing XI:

AJ Finch (c), JP Behrendorff, AT Carey, PSP Handscomb, UT Khawaja, NM Lyon, SE Marsh, GJ Maxwell, Peter Siddle, JA Richardson, MP Stoinis, N Lyon.

Australia Actual Playing XI:

Aaron Finch, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey, Peter Siddle, Glenn Maxwell, Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis, Shaun Marsh

India Preview

India must be looking at the loss at Sydney and wondering what hit them. The Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul fiasco seemed to have shifted the team’s focus away from the game. And when they got the focus back the scorecard read 4 for 3 with two of the three Indian batsmen in top 10 of the ICC Ranking back in the hut.

India, in fact, did well with the ball to restrict Australia to an under-par score of 288 on a pitch where a score of 300 or above is a norm in the first innings. They clearly missed Bumrah, especially at the death, where India leaked 94 runs in 10 overs against Handscomb and co.

Rohit Sharma once again stamped his authority as this generation’s best ODI player. However, he was not enough to save India from the embarrassment. India still have the best batting prowess and there is enough quality in the bowling attack. They must be itching to prove in the 2nd ODI at Adelaide that the loss at Sydney was an outlier.  

India Predicted Playing XI:

V Kohli (c), RG Sharma, KK Ahmed, A Rayudu, S Dhawan, MS Dhoni, K Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, B Kumar, Mohammed Shami, RA Jadeja

India Actual Playing XI:

M Siraj, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami

Weather Conditions

Adelaide is one of the flattest pitches in Australia. It offers some reverse and assistance to spinners as the match goes on but not much. Overall, the teams batting first have won 55% of the matches but this trend has changed in recent years. In the last 10 years, the teams batting second have won slightly more at this venue.  

Toss: To Bowl

The team winning the toss should opt to Bowl first here and try to restrict the opposition to as low a score as possible. Then, with the target in sight, the chasing team should maneuver in flat conditions as the situation demands.