Finch predicts ODI series result between Australia and India

Australia great Aaron Finch has revealed how he believes the upcoming ODI series between his former side and India will transpire and shared his thoughts on the decision to replace Rohit Sharma as skipper with Shubman Gill.

India named a strong 15-player squad for the three-match ODI series with the Aussies on Saturday, with Gill to lead the 50-over side for the first time after he was named as the new skipper in place of former captain Rohit Sharma.

Rohit will be able to provide ample support to Gill after he was also named in the squad for the series that commences in Perth on October 19, with fellow former captain Virat Kohli also included and in line to make his first international appearance since the ICC Champions Trophy at the start of the year.

Finch, who was well known for his exploits against India throughout his career and was part of the Australian side that won the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup on home soil in 2015, believes the series will be closely fought, with his former side likely to claim the honours narrowly.

"It will be a great series," Finch told ICC Digital from Colombo as part of his commentary commitments at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup.

"It always is against India and I think having Virat back in there brings out the best in him against Australia.

"It's always a great battle when you look at it on paper as it's very evenly matched, but I'd say Australia (win the series) 2-1.

"Not confidently though as India are a great side and it will just be a great series to watch."

Finch is also interested in seeing how Gill fares in his debut ODI series as captain and thinks the fact that Rohit and Kohli will be beside him in the field should prove a boost for the impressive 26-year-old.

"Shubman has already shown what a good leader he is in T20 cricket and Test cricket, so I'm sure this will be no different," Finch noted.

"He's a brilliant player, particularly in the white-ball formats and the way that he captained against England in the Test series is just a huge tick in his box to take the next step and takeover the Indian leadership right the way through (all three formats).

"I think when you look back to that England Test series he (Gill) didn't have many other options that he could turn to for advice, probably when he was out on the ground, but he did a wonderful job himself.

"But I think just having those guys (Rohit and Kohli) there will be a real calmness for him as well, because it's the ability to bounce ideas, both on and off the field on how you want the team to function going forward, because they've been such a huge part of the team for a long period of time."

India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal

Series schedule:

First ODI: October 19, Perth
Second ODI: October 23, Adelaide
Third ODI: October 25, Sydney