India, Australia renew fierce rivalry
AUSTRALIA: No all-rounders, our bowling combination will be 3-2: Dhoni
India will look to get their combination right as they renew their fierce rivalry against a confident Australia in the first of the five-match ODI series starting here on Tuesday, marking the onset of a long limited-overs schedule stretching until the World T20.
The limited overs series, including five ODIs and three T20 internationals, Down Under will initiate the Indian team’s preparations for the marquee ICC World T20 scheduled in March-April. The T20 games will be played after the five ODIs, and Dhoni’s boys would like to carry the momentum in the shortest format. Not the best indicator While India won both their warm-up games – a T20 and 50-over match each – against the second string Western Australia XI, it is certainly not the best indicator of the kind of challenge they will face from Steve Smith’s men. Skipper Dhoni will like to turn the tables in the new year but will rue the fact that one of his best pace weapons, Mohammed Shami, has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury. But there are certain aspects that might also relieve Dhoni as the Aussie bowling attack comprising Josh Hazlewood, Joel Paris, Scott Boland and Jimmy Faulkner looks thin on experience. As far as his own bowling attack is concerned, Dhoni has been fretting over the possible playing XI combinations. The two experienced spin-bowling all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will make up the five-pronged bowling attack for India along with three seamers. “Most likely it will be a 3-2 combination. We don’t really have a seaming all-rounder. Who the players are, we’ll have to wait and watch,” Dhoni said in the pre-match press conference on Monday. The batting unit looks more or less settled with Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the opening slots followed by vice captain Virat Kohli at No 3. Ajinkya Rahane is expected at No 4 and one might find the Indian captain batting at No 5. One among Manish Pandey or Gurkeerat Singh will be playing in slot that got vacated due to Suresh Raina’s exclusion from the squad. India need Dhoni to produce match-winning efforts, which have been few and far between in recent times. In that sense, it will be interesting to see where Dhoni comes in to bat. In the larger scheme of things then, Team India couldn’t have asked for a better challenge to kick-start their preparation for the ICC event two months down the road.PTI
