India: (probable) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Praveen Kumar/Munaf Patel, 11 Ashish Nehra. Australia: (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Cameron White, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz 10 Doug Bollinger/Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Peter Siddle.
India have a few changes to ponder over. If Yuvraj returns, it will be at the expense of either Kohli or Jadeja. However, Yuvraj’s return adding strength to the middle order could also result in India fielding the extra specialist spinner in Amit Mishra if the pitch is conducive for slow bowling. In that case, both Kohli and Jadeja could miss out. The other player likely to miss out could be Praveen Kumar, who leaked 77 runs off ten overs in the first game. Despite his success with the bat, his spot could go to Munaf Patel.
Assuming Johnson will be passed fit, Australia have to replace Lee and Hopes. The contenders are Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus, Jon Holland and Shaun Marsh. Either Bollinger or Ben Hilfenhaus is a certainty for the third fast bowler’s spot, and considering Australia got by with Hopes bowling only two overs in the first game, they could strengthen their batting and give his spot to Shaun Marsh.
Pitch and conditions
Deciding what to after winning the toss in India is usually a no-brainer. Most teams prefer to bat, and take advantage of a slowing pitch as the game progresses. However, the decision in Nagpur may not be so clear cut. The pitch is expected to be flat and excellent for run-making but dew in the evenings could make captains think twice before batting first, especially if there are a few slow bowlers in the line-up. Dhoni said that one of the matches during the recent Challenger Trophy was severely affected by dew and he said the organisers were trying to minimize its effect on the game by spraying the ground with chemicals.
Siddle to Dhoni, OUT, almost caught and bowled and Gambhir is run out! Confusion there! It was the slower one and Dhoni was beaten by it and scooped it just over the leaping Siddle. Gambhir had rushed off ; Hauritz swooped on the ball from mid-off and threw in a direct hit at the non-striker’s end to remove Gambhir. Australia continue to impress in the field.
**G Gambhir run out 76 (80b 6x4 0x6) SR: 95.00
India 221/4 off 34.2 overs.
Partnership of 119 runs between Dhoni and Ghambir. :k:
**
355 to win. India's highest ODI score against Australia. In fact it's the highest by any team batting first against Australia; India's 12th score of 350 or more in ODIs - they've won each of their previous 11 matches; Dhoni's 124 is the highest by a captain against Australia, going past Jayasuriya 122 in Sydney in 2003;
The highest Australia have successfully chased in ODIs is 326 against South Africa in 2002.
