India’s quest for glory will face a stern test in formidable Australia, forcing Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri to put their thinking caps on and contemplate a tactical rejig, as one of World Cup’s most storied rivalries resumes here Sunday.
India were clinical in their six-wicket victory against adepleted South Africa while Australia, who have raised their game in the lastcouple of months, were professional against Afghanistan and brilliant in theircome-from-behind victory against the West Indies.
Having struggled in the past one year after suspensions ofSteve Smith and David Warner, Australia finally seemed to have picked theirpieces and are playing exactly like a five-time champions ought to.
This will certainly be a cause of worry for India, who losttheir ODI series at home during the last bilateral encounter and are still insearch of a perfect combination both in batting and bowling.
In fact, Australia’s batting coach Ricky Ponting isapprehending a shift in strategy from the Indians, who have of late rattledthem with quality pace bowling.
The movement off the pitch from back of length has createdproblems for the left-hander and possibly he will get a couple of more gamesbefore Rahul is brought up the order and Shankar slotted at number four.
TEAMS (FROM):
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma,KL Rahul, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, VijayShankar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja
Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Adam Zampa, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson. Match Starts: 3 pm IST. PTI