Australia's Predicted Playing XI for the 2nd ODI

Shreyas
Can the rampant Aussies continue their great form in the retro outfits and win the series?
Can the rampant Aussies continue their great form in the retro outfits and win the series?

Australia beat India in the 1st ODI at Sydney by 34 runs and was convincing with their bowling performance and showed good character while batting. The openers, Aaron Finch and Alex Carey got dismissed in the first 10 overs and Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh rebuilt the innings for Australia. Later, Peter Handscomb played a flamboyant knock of 73 though it felt as if Australia missed a trick by not sending Glenn Maxwell ahead of Marcus Stoinis.

The Aussie bowlers were at it right from the start as Jason Behrendorff on his ODI debut picked up Shikhar Dhawan in the first over and Jhye Richardson struck twice in his 2nd over removing Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu who used up the review.

MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma consolidated but did the job slowly and when it seems that they were going to counter-attack, Dhoni got adjudged out LBW when he was on 51 off 96 balls where the ball had pitched outside leg but India had no review. Rohit toiled hard for his brilliant 133 but due to lack of partners, he fell and India ended up 254/9 in 50 overs.

Here is Australia's Predicted playing XI for the 2nd ODI.


Openers- Aaron Finch and Alex Carey(wicket-keeper)

Australia v India - ODI: Game 1
Australia v India - ODI: Game 1

Aaron Finch struggled to play the swinging ball last match and inevitably got dismissed by a beauty from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The skipper must look to settle his nerves at the start of the innings and check himself before attacking the bowlers. Finch must decide to go after a particular bowler and later when he's on song.

Alex Carey looked solid until he got out after trying to play one shot too many. He had the number of Kuldeep Yadav and came forward and went back when he needed to, but that cut shot in the last ball of the power play was not understandable. Carey can do a lot more than getting out before the 30s and he will retain his place in the side.

Middle Order- Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, and Peter Handscomb

Australia v India - ODI: Game 1
Australia v India - ODI: Game 1

Australia's middle order fired in the last match and that was the main reason why they could win it. After losing both the openers, Khawaja and Marsh put up a good partnership before the former got out. Handscomb played a delectable knock of 73 while Marsh and Khawaja scored 59 and 54 respectively which will certainly do their confidence some good.

Khawaja and Marsh, in particular, handled the spinners really well and hit a lot of boundaries off Kuldeep Yadav who seemed like he was going to get the better of them. Australia will want them to play with the same confidence and carry their form over to the next match.


All Rounders- Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell

Australia v India - T20
Australia v India - T20

It seemed as if Australia were 10-20 runs short in their innings and most people felt that Maxwell should have been sent ahead of Stoinis so that he could get some time at the crease before going ballistic like he always does. Stoinis started off slowly but took off in the last 4 overs and finished off with 47 off 43 balls with a strike rate that could have been better considering the time he had. Maxwell, in contrast, came into bat in the 48th over and scored 11 runs off 5 balls.

Stoinis in his bowling spell was expensive but got the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma which pretty much finished the game for Australia while Maxwell got only 2 overs where he was smashed for 18 runs. Australia need not maintain a specific batting order for these 2 match winners but can play them in according to the situation.

Spinner- Adam Zampa

Melbourne BBL Derby Media Opportunity
Melbourne BBL Derby Media Opportunity

Nathan Lyon made little or no impact in the 1st ODI going wicketless and conceding 50 runs in his 10 overs which is average. This again highlights his lack of substance in the limited overs format which might prompt Australia to bring in Adam Zampa who troubled the Indian batsmen in the T20I series as well.

Zampa relies more on his pace variations than his turn and his line is so stringent that he's very hard to get away. He could be a real menace if combined with an in-form pacer like Behrendorff or Richardson.


Fast Bowlers- Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, and Jason Behrendorff

Australia v India - ODI: Game 1
Australia v India - ODI: Game 1

Jhye Richardson was simply unplayable last match and won the Man of the Match award for his stunning bowling performance where he picked up 4 wickets conceding just 26 runs in 10 overs. He dismissed Kohli and Rayudu in the same over and later Karthik and Jadeja.

His whippy action and quick deliveries were very tough to play. Behrendorf with his tall frame predominantly angled the ball into the left-handers and away from the right-handers but brought back in a few deliveries which really surprised the batsmen.

He got 2 crucial wickets in Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni on his ODI debut which is pretty impressive. He kept the pressure on the Indian batsmen letting his teammate Jhye to do the wicket-taking part.

Peter Siddle wasn't as effective in the death as we thought he would be, conceding 48 runs in 8 overs picking up just 1 wicket. Australia will certainly give him another go and hopes he makes more of an impact this time around.

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Edited by Aditya Joshi