Australia are One of the Best Oppositions; ODI Series - a Practice Before World Cup - Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar, one of the former India openers, said facing Australia before the World Cup provides good practice. As the Aaron Finch-led team gears up to take on India in the limited-overs series, Vengsarkar feels taking on the toughest oppositions in world cricket will benefit the Men in Blue. Meanwhile, the first of the two T20Is is scheduled for Sunday (February 24th) in Vizag. The Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru will host the second T20I on Wednesday (February 27th). The five-match ODI series will follow after it.

Australia are one of the best oppositions – Dilip

Though the Aussies aren’t roaming with a reputation of one of the best teams in the world, they still have history and numbers with them to unsettle anyone. Even in the recent past, India had outnumbered Australia Down Under in Tests, and ODIs. During the Border-Gavaskar series, India beat them 2-1 across four matches; whereas, the Men in Blue staged a brilliant comeback in the ODIs, winning it 2-1 after losing the first match.

Meanwhile, Dilip thinks Australia remains to be the challenging team to face at anyone’s home notwithstanding their current results. As Australia series is their last international assignment ahead of the 2019 World Cup, the veteran batsman noted it would be of great practice.

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“Australia are one of the best oppositions and (it is) a good practice before the World Cup because they (India) won’t be able to get to play many games (ODIs) as the IPL starts,” Vengsarkar told reporters.

The BCCI earlier picked a 15-man squad for Australia T20Is – including a few surprising names as well. As the India captain Virat Kohli returned after well-earned rest, pacer bowler Jasprit Bumrah also got named on the list. Mayank Markande, the young leg-spinner also earned his maiden international call-up. Among the absentees were Kuldeep Yadav, who got some rest alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Meanwhile, the 2019 World Cup will begin in the UK on May 30th.