Australian captain Mitchell Marsh has won the toss and chosen to bowl first for the second ODI against India at Adelaide Oval.
The hosts have made three changes to the starting XI from the team that defeated India during Sunday’s rain-affected series opener at Perth Stadium — wicketkeeper Alex Carey and spinner Adam Zampa return to the side, replacing Josh Philippe and Matt Kuhnemann respectively, while seamer Xavier Bartlett takes over from the rested Nathan Ellis.
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Meanwhile, India has named an unchanged XI, with spinner Kuldeep Yadav once again carrying drinks.
Josh Hazlewood had an incredible opening spell but could not strike for a wicket, instead posting 0-22 from seven overs, while Xavier Bartlett took two early wickets including Virat Kohli for a duck.
Rohit Sharma led an India fightback after struggling early against Hazlewood, but fell to Mitchell Starc for 73.
The match got underway at 2.30pm AEDT.
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PREVIEW
Australia are set to welcome back Adam Zampa and Alex Carey as the ODI series against India heads to the Adelaide Oval, one of Virat Kohli’s happiest hunting grounds.
Mitchell Marsh’s side will be looking to seal a series victory when game two gets underway at 2.30pm AEDT on Thursday after a comprehensive seven-wicket triumph in a rain-affected series opener in Perth.
Gloveman Josh Philippe will likely make way for Carey, who sat out game one after playing Sheffield Shield for South Australia, despite scoring an eye-catching 37 from 29 balls and nabbing three catches in his first ODI in four years.
Left arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann has already departed the squad with leg spinner Zampa to slot back in after not travelling to Perth due to the birth of his second child.
As for India’s XI, left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav could be in line for a recall after strong criticism of his omission from the series opener.
Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was scathing of coach Gautam Gambhir for playing too many all-rounders with Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy all picked in Perth.
“Please focus on bowling too, if Kuldeep can’t bowl on these big grounds with freedom then where is he gonna bowl? They will talk about this batting depth but it is batter’s job to score runs. Play your best batters & best bowlers, why you need too many all rounders?” Ashwin said.
The Australian bowling attack meanwhile are set to have a hard time curtailing Kohli, based on his impressive record in 50-over cricket in Adelaide.
The veteran fell for an eight-ball duck at Optus Stadium, but boasts five international centuries at the Adelaide Oval, including back-to-back hundreds in his last two ODIs at the venue where he averages 61 in the format.
If Kohli goes big again, he will move to second place on the all-time ODI runs list, needing 54 runs to surpass Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara.
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Two Australian superstars are also within touching distance of significant milestones with Mitchell Starc needing five more wickets to become the fourth Australian to take 250 ODI wickets – after Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne.
A Travis Head half-century will also take him to 3000 ODI runs and he would be the 25th Australian to reach that mark.
If history is anything to go by, a nailbiter could be on the cards as India have won the last two ODIs between the two teams at the Adelaide Oval in the final over of their run chase.
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
India squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
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