Team India, who have been almost unbeatable at home for a while, suffered a shocking and humiliating 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the series opener in Mumbai. Virat and Co. were outplayed by the Australian side, both with bat and ball. The Men in Blue will now play to save the series in Rajkot on Friday.
In the first ODI, Indian batsmen surrendered against Australia’s quality bowling attack. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins led the bowling line up and chipped wickets regularly to deny India any momentum. Barring Shikhar Dhawan (74) and KL Rahul (47), none of the Indian batsmen spent time in the middle and thus, managed to post a below par score of 255.
Indian bowlers didn’t impress either as Australian opener David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch dictated them throughout the innings. Warner and Finch chased the target without a sweat and took Australia home with 12.2 overs to spare.
India knows that they cannot afford another slip up and the team will be looking to bounce back in the all-important 2nd ODI.
Match Details
Date: January 17th, 2020, Friday
Venue: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
Time: 01:30 PM IST
Head to Head
Teams |
Matches Played |
Matches Won |
Matches Lost |
No Result |
India |
138 |
50 |
78 |
10 |
Australia |
138 |
78 |
50 |
10 |
Pitch Report
The pitch at Saurashtra Cricket Stadium is expected to produce another high scoring game. It’s not the biggest ground in the world and the spinners might go for plenty. The captain winning the toss will look to chase.
Read More: What Changes can India do in 2nd ODI to Avenge their Defeat against Australia?
Weather Conditions
It’s going to be nice and sunny in Rajkot on Friday. The temperature will be around of 20-24 degree Celsius in the afternoon. At night, temperature is expected to go as low as 8 degree Celsius.
Probable XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.
Key Players
India
Jasprit Bumrah
Australia
Mitchell Starc