Ranchi: Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s final homecoming forms a poignant subplot of an utterly dominant Indian team’s quest for an unassailable 3-0 lead in the third ODI against Australia here Friday.
A 3-0 lead in the five-match series will be a perfect parting gift for Ranchi’s favourite son, who, in all likelihood, will be seen wearing the India Blues for the last time at his home ground.
Amidst the emotional side story, the Indian team is grappling with a few teething issues regarding its top-order batting, especially senior opener Shikhar Dhawan’s poor form, which has affected India’s starts of late.
Despite Dhawan having gone off the boil with only two half-centuries in the last 15 ODIs, India are unlikely to tinker with the winning combination of the first two encounters.
KL Rahul, who is back in form, may have to wait till India clinch the series, but the team management could well try him out at the No.3 position.
The two victories weren’t exactly convincing but pulling off close matches under pressure will certainly add to the confidence.
Ambati Rayudu, whose only significant knock was the 90 against New Zealand in the last away series, has also been inconsistent and can be replaced with Rahul.
If Dhawan is persisted with, the best way to give Rahul at least three games is to bring him at No. 3 and the skipper coming at No 4 in place of Rayudu.
There are no such worries about Indian bowling as they have performed as a unit. The biggest gain in the second game has been Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar performing their combined role of a fifth bowler to perfection.
Shankar’s two wickets while bowling the final over will also instil confidence in his captain that in case Hardik Pandya has a breakdown, he has a fallback option in the Tamil Nadu all-rounder.
Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah have been outstanding in the two games so far. If Shami was lethal during the opening spell of the first game, Bumrah set it up with another incredible effort at the death in the second.
One who is quietly inching towards a slot in the World Cup-bound squad is Ravindra Jadeja, who has bowled brilliantly in those middle overs in tandem with Kuldeep Yadav.
Siddarth Kaul has gone back and it’s clear that he is not the back-up pacer while Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back after being rested.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishabh Pant.
Australia: Aaron Finch (Captain), Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon, Jason Behrendorff.
PTI