Australia vs India 2018-19: 3rd ODI, Melbourne - Match Preview

Australia vs India 2018-19: 3rd ODI, Melbourne – Match Preview; Well, it was a scintillating show from Indians on the other night at Adelaide Oval. The game witnessed a classic knocks from the blades of Shaun Marsh and Virat Kohli while the return of Vintage MS Dhoni was icing on the cake. With the series scoreline reading 1-1, the final of the 3-match ODI series set to be a cracking affair on Friday.

India has got their batting vows sorted out a bit compared to their performance in the first ODI. Ambati Rayudu hasn’t been in the best of form and it was evident in his scratchy innings on Tuesday.

In all likelihood, he should retain his position with the management putting immense faith in Rayudu over the last few months but if a change were to be made, Jadhav should ideally take his spot with his off-spin also coming in handy.

India would be relieved after M.S Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik’s calm and composed approach towards the end of the chase. The premium batsman Virat Kohli also showed his class at Adelaide to make things hard for Australia in their plans for 3rd ODI.

Meanwhile, Australia’s only concern in their batting section is the poor form of Aaron Finch. However, he would like to deliver the goods at his home ground. Meanwhile, the middle-order looks solid with Glenn Maxwell at number 7 performing brilliantly.

Both teams have concerns in the bowling department with their problems with the third pacer. However, they would back their bowling section, as the batsmen played few top-class knocks.

Changes:

Australia might consider bringing Billy Stanlake and Adam Zampa in place of Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon respectively. India might look to bring Kedar Jadhav and a slight chance to replace Siraj with Khaleel.

Also, Match Preview:

Date and Time: 18th January 2019, 7:50 AM IST.

Venue: Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Melbourne

Weather Conditions: The maximum temperature is going to stay around 27-degree Celsius. Humidity is going to be as high a 71%.

Pitch Conditions: Melbourne track is expected to be favourable for batsmen. However, there is a danger of being slowed down during the course of the game.

Australia Probable XI: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk) Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff.

India’s Probable XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj

Stat Corner:

Shikhar Dhawan has scored 4967 runs. Thus, the southpaw batsman needs another 33 runs to complete 5000 runs in the 50-overs format.