Vexed India look to hit back in Mohali

Overview

India v Australia
4th ODI
Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali
Sunday, 10 March, 1:30pm local time, 8:00am GMT

While India won the first two games of the series, both were very competitive and went down to the wire. Australia were repaid for their consistent efforts in the third game, when a superlative hundred from Usman Khawaja and a 93 from Aaron Finch guided them to 313.

Going into the fourth ODI, India will be keen on improving their performances with the bat – particularly at the top of the order. Barring skipper Virat Kohli – the leading run-scorer of the series so far – India's top order has put up mediocre performances. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have not been amongst the runs, while Ambati Rayudu has been unable to do much better at No.4.

With MS Dhoni rested for the remainder of the series, Rishabh Pant, who has been impressive in his young career so far, will come into the side. Consistent performances from Kuldeep Yadav and Vijay Shankar have been one of India's biggest positives so far. With Mohammed Shami having suffered a blow to the shin courtesy of a Finch drive, he might be given a rest to bring Bhuvneshwar Kumar into the mix. That might work well for India, considering they have struggled to break the Australian opening stand in the last couple of games.

Australia, on the other hand, will hope that their openers continue showing their rich form. Glenn Maxwell, at No.3, has made solid scores on the tour so far. However, the rest of the middle order has blown hot and cold. The visitors will want to correct that in Mohali.

Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa have been excellent with the ball, with seven wickets each in three games. They are joint-second among the leading wicket-takers for the series, just one behind the top-placed Yadav.

Australia have chosen the same ODI squad to face Pakistan later this month and every player will be keen on performing well in a bid to cement their claim for an ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 berth.

Key players

**Virat Kohli (India):**Kohli, No. 1 on the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for batting, has been in splendid form this series. The India captain has recorded two consecutive centuries and amassed 283 runs in just three innings at an average of 94.33.

**Aaron Finch (Australia):**Finch was on a torrid run of form, but has turned it around in the last two games. The Australia skipper was dismissed just seven runs short of a hundred in the third match and looked supremely confident at the top of the order.

Conditions

The forecast for Mohali shows clear skies on Sunday. The surface in the PCAIS Stadium is suitable for batting and has seen some high scores in the last few years. The latest ODI at this venue saw the home side put up 392/4 against Sri Lanka.

Squads

**India:**Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja

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