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This venue is normally full of runs so Steve Smith is hoping to exploit any juice in the surface following the rain of recent days. Makes sense. Glenn Maxwell pulled sore after his first international outing for a while, hence Ellis’s inclusion.
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Rohit would also have bowled first but is still confident there will be turn later on for his attack featuring three spinners.
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Rohit Sharma returns to captain the side, so Ishan Kishan makes way, while the spin of Axar Patel is preferred to the grunt of Shardul Thakur.
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India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami
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Alex Carey returns behind the stumps, displacing Josh Inglis, while Nathan Ellis comes in for Glenn Maxwell. Still no David Warner.
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Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
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EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1679211602000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”03.40 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1679211603000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”03.40 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”03.40″,”title”:”Australia XI”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 19 Mar 2023 04.13 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sun 19 Mar 2023 03.29 EDT”},{“id”:”641401b08f086bbc8500ed4f”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Hello everybody and welcome to the second ODI of the cricket-for-cricket’s sake series between India and Australia. Weather permitting, we’ll be underway in Visakhapatnam at 1.30pm local time (7pm AEDT).
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Smash cut to Geoff Lemon’s introduction from the first ODI on Friday:
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If you want another indication of how meaningful this series is, no Australian media outlet is covering it. None. All of us who did the Test series headed for the exits afterwards. Even the cricket.com.au contingent from the in-house Cricket Australia site. They went to the Caribbean and Bangladesh on the team plane during the pandemic for white-ball tours, but not this. Cricbuzz and Cricinfo will have their Australian correspondents at this first match in Mumbai, but only because they had other things to take care of in the same city. Nobody will be travelling to the second and third matches.
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Why? Because this series was added only a couple of months ago and serves no purpose aside from filling screen time. English players were scathing about the one-dayers they played right after the T20 World Cup last November, and half their reserve players preferred to play the Pakistan Super League T20s than show up in Bangladesh for England matches over the past couple of weeks. We’re at an interesting stage in the life cycle of bilateral contests.
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Friday’s series opener was far from a classic with bowlers from both sides dominating before KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja steered India home by five wickets.
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Let’s see what we have in store today.
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As all involved satisfy their contractual obligations, feel free to send me an email, or fly a tweet to @JPHowcroft.
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key events
Second: India 19-1 (Rohit 10, Kohli 6) Cameron Green shares the new ball, and he starts with a lovely full swing that picks up nicely in the air. The rest of the over isn’t very tricky though, with Rohit turning it into consecutive bounds of leg stump half volleys through square leg, while Kohli demonstrates his timing with a controlled drive for four through the covers.
In the closed shot of the television, with the bright straw-colored roof and the deep green gardens, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you were in Australia. It’s only when the camera focuses that you realize you’re in India. Oh, and the noise is deafening.
1st: India 8-1 (Rohit 5, Kohli 1) Not much of an international cricket over, but one that Australia will be very happy with, even if it ends with Rohit clipping a half-volley leg stump for four.
SHUTTER! Gill c Labuschagne b Starc 0 (India 3-1)
Starc starts with a massive width that follows closer to the second of two slips than the India pattern. Rohit is then easily bowled with a smooth lead into third with the left-arm bowler’s angle through him from the wicket. Another big detour, this time in Gill’s vague direction. I’m not sure Starc is in the races yet. Ha ha ha. Next installment has a gate. Of course he does. Outside length off, no delivery really, and Gill floats without moving her feet and sends a thick edge straight to the point.
Mitchell Starc has the ball. Rohit Sharma is on strike. Let’s go cricket!
The two sides are in the middle. The surface looks flat and straw-colored. The lush and emerald garden. India are in bright blue with orange details. Australia canary yellow with hints of zinc. The referees are in magenta. It is a beautiful scene.
Australia’s pullback pace, India’s pullback spin. It’s like UFC 1 when no one knew which of the martial artists would prevail. Until the brazilian jiu-jitsu guy rocked out and ruined everyone.
Visakhapatnam is located on the east coast of India, where it has rained for the past few days, but the sky has cleared just in time.
Covers getting removed.. full sunshine in #Vizag . Probably match will start On time because Vizag have brilliant drinage system & staff #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/uRKW9p6L6V
— Vizag Weatherman (@VizagWeather247) March 19, 2023
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Australia have won the toss and will play
This place is normally packed with racing, so Steve Smith is hoping to take advantage of any juice on the surface after the rain of the last few days. Makes sense. Glenn Maxwell got hurt after his first international outing for a while, hence the inclusion of Ellis.
Rohit would have cast first as well, but is still confident that there will be a turn for his three-spinner attack later.
Indian XI
Rohit Sharma returns to captain the side, so Ishan Kishan makes way, while Axar Patel’s spin is preferred to Shardul Thakur’s grunt.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (week), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami
Australian XI
Alex Carey returns behind the stumps, displacing Josh Inglis, while Nathan Ellis comes in for Glenn Maxwell. There is still no David Warner.
Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (week), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
Here it is Geoff Series Preview, if, unlike ICC, you need context for your cricket.
The company’s line is that this will be useful preparation for the 50+ World Cup in India later this year. That could mean something if Australia didn’t already have a three-game date in India in September for exactly that purpose. The subsequent series has been on the calendar for a long time, the current one being shod a couple of months ago when it became clear that some untapped days could be manufactured between the Tests and the new season of the Indian Premier League. This was also around the time that Cricket Australia cited ethical concerns in canceling a planned series against Afghanistan due in a similar window at the end of March.
Preamble
jonathan howcroft
Hello everyone and welcome to the second ODI of the cricket series for the cricket between India and Australia. Weather permitting, we’ll be underway in Visakhapatnam at 1:30pm local time (7pm AEDT).
Smash cut to Geoff Lemon’s introduction from the first ODI on Friday:
If you want another indication of how significant this series is, no Australian news outlets are covering it. None. All of us who did the Test series headed to the exits afterwards. Even the cricket.com.au contingent of Cricket Australia’s internal site. They went to the Caribbean and Bangladesh on the team plane during the pandemic for white ball tours, but not this. Cricbuzz and Cricinfo will have their Australian correspondents for this first match in Mumbai, but only because they had other things to do in the same city. No one will travel to the second and third games.
Because? Because this series was only added a couple of months ago and it serves no other purpose than to fill screen time. English players criticized the one-day matches they played right after the T20 World Cup last November, with half of their reserve players preferring to play the Pakistan Super League T20s than show up in Bangladesh for England’s matches in the last two weeks. We are at an interesting stage in the life cycle of bilateral tenders.
Friday’s series opener was far from classic with bowlers from both sides dominating before KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja brought India home by five wickets.
Let’s see what we have in store today.
As everyone involved is fulfilling their contractual obligations, please feel free to email or tweet me at @JPHowcroft.