India, Australia promise second round of rivetting cricket

It’s time for Part 2 of Australia’s journey in India this year. And if Part 1 was any indication, one can expect the rivalry to live up to the hype that always accompanies it.

The Test series in February and March was a heated one filled with drama. More importantly, the cricket was top-notch, with Australia giving India a run for its money although the home side ended up winning the four-match series 2-1. It was the first time in many years that a visiting side not only competed, but also nearly pushed India to a corner.

India’s home advantage will relatively reduce in the limited-overs versions, which promises another stiff contest between the sides.

India, though, still starts as the favourite. It will head into a stretch of limited-overs cricket at home having swept Sri Lanka across formats recently, and the team is gradually becoming a ruthless unit with players for every condition and situation. That’s evident from India's tremendous success in ODIs over the last two years; the last time India lost a bilateral ODI series was in early 2016 when it was beaten 4-1 by Australia Down Under. This, apart from a run to the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in June.

The string of success automatically means India is already in preparation mode for the ICC World Cup 2019. With every passing series, the options are increasing the pool for every department is widening. India also made public its intention to rotate players and be more unpredictable in strategy, which was evident in the Sri Lanka series. Only Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah played all five ODIs.

Through the experimentation, India got a few important pointers for the future as well. The wrist-spin combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav used the opportunity that arrived with the absence of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja well. Now is the time for the Chahals and Kuldeeps and Axars to establish themselves against a much tougher opposition in Australia.

Ditto for the Manish Pandeys and KL Rahuls too. With India seeking a replacement for Yuvraj Singh in the middle order, the Karnataka boys were in a direct face-off for the No. 4 spot. Rahul got the first opportunity in Sri Lanka but by the time the series ended, Pandey had acquitted himself very well in handling the pressures and challenges of that position. It’s early days, but the Australia series will indicate whether India still want to keep Rahul as an option in the middle order, or if he will be only a back-up opener.

Shikhar Dhawan’s absence for the first three ODIs could be a blessing in disguise in terms of answering those questions. In all likelihood, Ajinkya Rahane – deservedly - will get another chance at the top of the order before Dhawan reclaims his position.

While India seem a settled unit barring these minor dilemmas, Australia is surprisingly in search of a winning combination. Its previous ODI venture was an unsuccessful Champions Trophy from where it returned winless. It was partially due to weather – two of its three matches were no-results – but Steven Smith would be the first to admit Australia didn’t play its A game.

Following a Test tour that brought equal success and failure in Bangladesh, Australia arrives on Indian shores with inexperience in key areas. With Aaron Finch injured and set to miss the first few games, the onus is on David Warner and Smith to show the way to the likes of Hilton Cartwright and Peter Handscomb.

There is some inexperience in the bowling department too. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson are tending to minor injuries back home, and it’s up to Pat Cummins to lead a pace attack that also has Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kane Richardson. David Saker, the bowling coach, admitted Cummins’s workload is an issue, so the visiting side will hope that won’t hurt in the long run.

Australia will welcome the addition of James Faulkner, who has been recalled to the one-day team after missing out on a Champions Trophy berth. The allrounder will have good memories of the ODI series in India in 2013, where he smashed 230 runs from four innings at a strike-rate in excess of 150.

Those kinds of numbers were the theme of that seven-match series, which saw as many as nine 300+ scores, with five of them above 350. If there’s anything close to an encore, we could be in for plenty of entertainment.