big picture
After two nearly identical wins in Australia in Sydney, the ODI series moves to Canberra, but the change of scene does not necessarily have to result in a change in the template. If the SCG was all about hitting first, hitting big, and winning, the Manuka Oval’s ODI story is pretty much exactly when it comes to steroids.
The last seven games here have all been won by the first team, six of them defending more than 320 grand totals. The last four first innings totals here are 372 for 2, 411 for 4, 348 for 8, and 378 for 5, in chronological order.
With all the talk about India’s team balance and lack of penetration in bowling, the previous failure to win the throw has also contributed to their results. But even if the coin continues to work against them in Canberra, there is a possibility of a bit more parity between the sides in the absence of David Warner and Pat Cummins.
Now that Australia has already completed the series, it may have been considering changes anyway. India could do some of them too, not least with a view to managing the workload of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami ahead of the test series.
An opportunity may therefore arise for someone to step in and make a statement. India has now lost five ODIs in a row – their final sequence in January 2016 also saw a number of toothless bowling displays in Australia. That sequence ended with a win on their final ODI of the tour, which featured a striking portrayal of a surprising debutant ODI named Bumrah.
Form guide
Australia (last five completed games, last first): WWWLW
India: LLLLL
In the spotlight
Sean Abbott returned to the Australian squad thanks to his glowing form at the Sheffield Shield – 14 wickets in three games at 5:92 p.m. and 261 runs at 130:50, including a first-class hundred. Can he translate this form into white ball cricket?
He got off to a good start in the first two ODIs but couldn’t get started, and that can’t go on, especially on flat pitches like this when Mayank Agarwal wants in the long term in India’s ODI side. He currently has a hit rate of 103.61 out of five ODIs but a high of only 32. This could be his last opportunity in a while to show that he can play bigger innings.
Team news
With Warner, Australia could either swap D’Arcy Short or Matthew Wade at the top of the order, or put Marnus Labuschagne in order – he’s volunteered for the role – and make an ODI debut for Cameron Green. Judging from Aaron Finch’s pre-game words, the former seems more likely. Sean Abbott, who was in great shape with the ball and bat at Sheffield Shield, is expected to replace Cummins and play his first ODI since 2014.
Australia (possible): 1 Aaron Finch (Capt), 2 Matthew Wade / D’Arcy Short, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Alex Carey (week), 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Mitchell Starc , 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
India might give some of their fringe players a chance as the series is already lost, but predicting their XI is never easy. Of those who haven’t been featured, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur seem the most likely to get a game.
India (possible): 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Shikhar Dhawan / Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli (Capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer / Manish Pandey / Sanju Samson, 5 KL Rahul (week), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur / Navdeep Saini, 9 & 10 two by Mohammed Shami / Jasprit Bumrah / T Natarajan, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal / Kuldeep Yadav
Parking space and conditions
The Manuka Oval has historically one of the flattest striking tracks in Australia as well as some of the longest borders. A warm day is forecast with a maximum of around 26 degrees Celsius.
Statistics and trivia
Of all the reasons that at least five ODIs have been hosted this century, the Manuka Oval was the fastest with an average ODI run rate of 6.36.
India won’t have fond memories of its last ODI in Canberra. They were 277 for 1 courtesy of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli and took 72 out of 75 to win. But Dhawan’s wicket caused an incredible breakdown. The last nine wickets fell for 46 runs as Kane Richardson ran amok.
It takes Kohli 23 runs to hit the 12,000 mark in ODIs. By the time he gets there on Wednesday, he’ll have hit the landmark in 242 innings. Sachin Tendulkar, the fastest so far, got there in 300 innings.
Mohammed Shami is two gates away from 150 in ODIs.
Quotes
“The wicket is so true that it has good pace and bounce. And once you get in there you can really make money. It’s a beautiful outfield. It’s a big ground so you probably get more value for your strokes get through the gap. ” They take twos and threes than on a smaller site. You can accumulate quick runs there. On the flip side, if you roll well early and jump on the wicket with that extra pace, some teams will obviously try to make really good use of this new ball. “
Aaron Finch while playing at Manuka Oval
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