SYDNEY, Jan 11: Hit hard by an unexpected controversy after the high of the Test triumph, India will look to fine tune their World Cup preparations in the three-match ODI series against an under-fire Australia, beginning here on Saturday.
On the eve of the opening game, the BCCI suspended Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul pending an inquiry for their unsavoury remarks on women during a TV show, effectively ruling them out of the series.
While Pandya was a certainty in the playing XI, an out-of-form Rahul was not in contention to play on Saturday.
Skipper Virat Kohli on Friday condemned the comments made by his two teammates and said the team does not align with the �individual opinions�.
�The two concerned players (have) felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what�s happened,� he said in the pre-match press conference.
Rahul was unlikely to get a go owing to both his poor form and the presence of a well-settled opening pair in Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. More significant is Pandya�s absence as the all-rounder provides crucial balance to the ODI side with his ability to bowl 10 overs as well as bat in the middle order.
Pandya�s absence means that India will have to rejig their attack. Jasprit Bumrah has already been rested for this series, as well as the tour of New Zealand, and this allows the think-tank to conduct one final experimentation with their bowling attack.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a shoe-in, and thereafter it depends if Kohli wants to go in with a three-man pace attack to compensate for Pandya�s loss.
In such a scenario, Mohammed Shami and Khaleel Ahmed are expected to get the nod, as India continue zeroing on the pace quartet for the World Cup squad. There is a sprinkling of grass on the SCG pitch and it could push the Indian skipper to opt for a three-pacer and two-spinner combination.
Kohli also stated that, in Pandya�s absence, Ravindra Jadeja would step up as the all-rounder. He would partner up with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav as India�s five-pronged attack, with Kedar Jadhav fulfilling any part-time bowling duties if needed.
With the two openers, and Kohli at number three, the remaining batting line-up picks itself. Jadhav, MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu will form the middle order, and there will be keen interest in the latter duo�s form here.
Dhoni had an off-colour 2018, managing 275 runs in 20 ODIs at average 25 without a half-century. While this is a meagre return for a batsman of his stature, the worrying aspect is Dhoni�s strike-rate of 71.42, which is remarkably lower than his ODI career strike-rate of 87.89.
Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia (playing XI): Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff.
Match starts 7.50 am IST. � PTI
