Bangalore: India will be praying for a rain-free day when they face Australia in the fourth ODI at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here Thursday. India are looking for a 5-0 sweep of the ODI series and it is only rain, and not the form of the Australians, which stand in their way.
With the series already decided both sides may ring in a couple of changes to the sides that played in the Indore ODI which India won by five wickets. The Australians will have to bring in Adam Zampa as left-arm spinner Ashton Agar has flown back to Australia with a thumb fracture. India on the other hand may bring in homeboy KL Rahul in place of Kedar Jadhav who has not had a particularly good series.
Whatever the changes may be, the Indians are determined not to relax the ruthless intensity with which they have played the series so far. Whenever, the chips have been down for India, someone or the other has stepped in to bail the side out of trouble.
Also the exploits of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have contributed majorly to the Australian downfall with the latter turning Glenn Maxwell his ‘bunny’. In all the three games so far it has been ‘Maxwell stumped Dhoni bowled Chahal’.
The leg-spinner while talking to the media here Wednesday said that he has worked out a way of dismissing Maxwell.
“My plan to Maxwell is not to bowl at the stumps. That’s a wrong area. I tend to bowl outside the off-stump and I vary my pace. I know that if I can bowl 2-3 dot balls, he will step out and try to play an aggressive shot. I have done it so far in the series and it has worked,” Chahal told reporters here.
However, he clarified that to the Indians, it is David Warner who is more of a threat. “Our target is to get him out early because then we can put pressure on the middle-order,” Chahal informed. “Even keeping in mind (Aaron) Finch’s century in the last game, Warner is the most dangerous for us. If he plays 50-60 balls, you will suddenly see him 80-odd batting. Our main goal has been to prevent him from scoring,” the leg-spinner added.
On his part, Warner who will be playing his 100th ODI here said that the side, in spite of losing the ODI series would like to leave a mark in the remaining games as that will be a huge confidence-booster before the Ashes series starting November.
“We have two ODIs and three T20 games in hand. We are all desperately keen to do well in those. We need to be in a positive frame of mind before the Ashes and that can only happen if we win most of the remaining matches,” Warner stated. “As a country we are immensely proud of our sporting credentials and we will play for that pride.”
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