Both teams have plenty to play for in final ODI

The series might have been won and lost, but there is no such thing as a dead rubber when it comes to an India v Australia contest.

Australia came into this limited-overs tour of India having lost eight of its last ten One-Day Internationals away from home. And the two it didn’t lose were rain-affected no results. India has been on a roll this year, winning all four bilateral series it has played so far and reaching the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final. But Australia snapped India’s winning streak at nine ODIs with a pride-salvaging 21-run win in Bangalore.

Going into the final match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Sunday, both teams still have a lot to play for. A 2-3 scoreline will be crucial for Australia’s confidence to carry some positive energy into the Twenty20 International leg of the series and furthermore to the Ashes in November. India has two series lined up at home, against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, before heading to South Africa, and can test its bench strength.

Australia has had its moments in each of the team's three losses. The bowlers had reduced India to 87 for 5 in Chennai before the match ended in a 26-run defeat. Then the visiting side restricted the host to a sub-par 252 in Kolkata before the batsmen failed to fire in a 50-run loss. In Indore, Australia was 224 for 1 with more than 12 overs remaining before a late implosion and a clinical Indian batting display secured a 3-0 scoreline.

The monkey was finally off Australia’s back in Bangalore when David Warner and Aaron Finch set up a healthy total of 334 for 5. Although the bowlers lacked discipline at the start, the trio of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins and Kane Richardson more than made up towards the end.

But the win doesn’t mask the fact that Australia’s batting still needs some attention. As has been the case over the last few years, only Warner and Finch have fired at the top. The rest of the lineup has had to deal with inconsistency. Steven Smith struck a couple of half-centuries, and Marcus Stoinis and Peter Handscomb consolidated in the middle, but the tackling wrist spin has remained a problem area.

Australia sounded out a pre-Ashes warning by dropping Glenn Maxwell from the Bangalore ODI. With scores of 39, 14 and 5, Maxwell, who fell to Yuzvendra Chahal on all three occasions, could perhaps be given a chance to prove himself. Losing Ashton Agar in Indore due a fractured finger proved to be expensive as Adam Zampa leaked runs before finding redemption with the wicket of Hardik Pandya.

India has ticked most boxes on their way to the series win. With Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli doing the bulk of the scoring at the start, the top order wears a settled look. But it is the middle order that has been shuffled constantly and needs some working.

Hardik Pandya has transformed into a mature allrounder, showing his ability to adapt with crucial knocks and picking important wickets. However, Pandya’s elevation to No. 4 meant MS Dhoni had to walk out at No. 7, where he might no longer be the best candidate. Given how he takes time to settle in and finish clinically, there is a strong case for Dhoni batting higher up, preferably at No. 5.

Both Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav didn’t contribute as much as they were expected to in the 3-0 scoreline, but in Bangalore, the latter provided a crucial breakthrough when India’s reserve bowlers, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel struggled. He even followed it up with a timely half-century. Pandey is yet to produce a defining knock, and could perhaps be replaced by his Karnataka team-mate KL Rahul.

One of the key factors in India's series win was the bowling in the death overs which Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, the pace duo that was rested in Bangalore, did commendably. In an attempt to test the bench strength, Umesh and Shami were tried, but they couldn’t curtail the scoring rate as effectively. Umesh did pick up four wickets though, and is likely to play in front of his home crowd on Sunday.

This is the first ODI to be played at the venue in almost four years, the last one having yielded a thrilling six-wicket win for the home side against the same opponent during the 2013-14 tour. However, the square was relaid in March, and Pravin Hingnikar, the VCA curator, assured it would be "a very sporting wicket and provide equal opportunities for batsmen and bowlers."

With the temperatures soaring well above 35 degree Celsius during the day, what impact the sapping heat will have, particularly on bowlers, remains to be seen. A 1:30 pm start means conditions will be testing. A home win would bring some cheer, though Australia will have other plans.

Teams (from):

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Steven Smith (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Peter Handscomb (wk), James Faulkner, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Kane Richardson.