India ponder combinations as they eye 2-0

Overview

India v Australia
2nd ODI
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
Tuesday, 5 March; 1:30pm IST, 8:00am GMT

While MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav came away with the plaudits after their resilient 141-run partnership took India through in a chase of 237, there were no doubts as to which department set up the victory.

The Indian bowlers have rarely looked more menacing. Jasprit Bumrah returned 2/60, and was unlucky to concede as many runs as he did, given the number of edges and nicks that ended up at the fence. Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, was scintillating during his 2/44.

With Kuldeep Yadav getting among the wickets and Ravindra Jadeja proving extremely hard to score off, the Australian batsmen ended up throwing away their starts as the pressure grew.

As far as their bowling is concerned, India are more or less settled for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. Bumrah seems rejuvenated after the break, Shami has rarely bowled better, and with Bhuvneshwar Kumar set to return from the third ODI onwards, the pacemen will be at full force.

It is a question of getting the combination right in terms of pace and spin – Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, the wrist-spinners, have been exemplary as a duo – and, in short, bowling is India’s strong suit.

Questions continue regarding the batting, though. Dhoni and Jadhav displayed one facet of batting that India are good at – taking the game deep and coming through. But the problem at No.4 remains, with Ambati Rayudu managing just 13 and his dismissal contributing to a mini-slide.

KL Rahul, so impressive in the T20Is, might be given a punt at No.4 at some point in the series, and with the safety-net of a lead, the Nagpur ODI seems as good a time as any. Another change India might consider for the second ODI is a straight-swap between Yadav and Chahal.

Australia, meanwhile, have issues of their own to address. Their batsmen got starts in Hyderabad, but none of them managed to convert it to anything meaningful.

While considerations have to be made for the difficulty of batting on a tricky surface, Australia’s plan to lay a foundation in the Powerplay seemed to backfire as the Indian spinners arrived in the middle overs and piled pressure on the visitors to up the scoring.

Will they reconsider that strategy in the coming game? Go at a higher clip from the word go? Perhaps that may play to captain Aaron Finch’s strengths – he has been in a dreadful rut, but the feeling is that one boisterous innings might spark him back to form.

The bowlers, meanwhile, did well to bring Australia back into the contest for a while, but the batsmen have to deliver for them to threaten India in India.

Key players
Mohammed Shami (India): Bumrah has been the poster boy of this Indian pace attack, but Shami’s bowling in Hyderabad was a sight to watch. The fitness issues of old have been dealt with. He’s sending them down at pace and with plenty of control, and praise for the Bengal paceman has rained in from all quarters. Australia will treat him with particular care in Nagpur.

Aaron Finch (Australia): The Australia captain’s lean patch has extended for longer than a he’ll care to remember, and there have been calls in Australia to give him a break. Ian Chappell, in fact, has said his inclusion in the Test squad last year was “probably the worst thing that happened” to him. Finch knows just one big innings can put an end to all the talk, and he’ll be desperate to do that in Nagpur.

Conditions
There was a spot of rain two days before the match, but the forecast for matchday is for clear skies and temperatures peaking at 34°C. Nagpur has always had a flat track on which batsmen can make merry, and that is expected to continue.

Squads
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohamed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, Sidharth Kaul, KL Rahul

Australia: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, D Arcy Short, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye