Australia tour of India

3rd ODI: IND vs AUS

Preview

The third and final ODI match of the three-match ODI series between India and Australia will take place at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday, 22nd March at 01:30 PM IST. It is the series decider after Australia thrashed India in the last match by 10 wickets to level the series 1-1. The visitors won the match while sparing 234 balls in the match and letting India suffer its biggest ODI defeat ever. This match also ended India's streak of seven winning consecutive ODI matches this year.

Both sides meet one last time on the latter’s tour of India as both teams eye a series win in Chennai. Left-arm gun bowler Starc’s 5-fer coupled with some blistering knocks from the openers helped Australia level the series in the last match. Men in Blue's skipper Rohit Sharma will be backing his bowlers to dominate things in the series decider. The Hosts batters failed to put in a good enough score for the spin trio to defend in the last match. The trio of Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel can be effective at this venue given the spin-friendly nature of the pitches.

In the second ODI, where Mitchell Starc took 5 wickets for the visitors and destroyed Indian batters with his quality fast bowling, showing an amazing performance in bowling, while batting, destructive opener Mitchell Marsh played an unbeaten explosive inning of 66 runs in just 36 balls that included 6 fours and 6 sixes. He was well supported by Travis Head who scored 51 off 36 balls that included 10 fours in his unbeaten innings.

After losing the toss India put on to the bat and had not got a good start and Gill departed on a second ball duck. Virat Kohli was the top scorer for India in that match with 31 runs and India's innings bundled up 117 in 26 overs. The Visitors chased the target in 11 overs.

India should be aware of the visitors’ spin-bowling arsenal as well. Adam Zampa is without a doubt, a key wicket-taker, but Ashton Agar could also be crucial with his left-arm orthodox bowling. Nevertheless, Indian batters are known for their ability to play spin and Australia should stick to their strengths to push India on the back foot once again. It is going to tough test for team India for heading into this match as the Aussies are currently playing fearless cricket which might cost India in this third ODI as well. 

Both sides have faced each other in 145 matches in ODI. Out of these games, The Host, India has won 54 whereas Australia has come out victorious on 81 occasions, 10 matches ended without a result.

Match Details

Match: IND vs AUS, 3rd ODI Match, Australia tour of India 2023

Date: Wednesday, 22 March

Time: 01:30 PM

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Pitch & Weather Report

MA Chidambaram Stadium will aid the batters and we will expect the pitch some turn and bounce in the match.  The average 1st innings score on this ground is 240 runs from 31 ODI matches. A 270-280 would be a competitive score on this track but the way Aussies are playing this ODI series anything under 300 would be a tough chance for team India.

Teams batting first and second have won 15 matches each at this venue. Both sides have concerns in the batting department but the Hosts have more. They would not rely on their batters to give them a good enough total to defend and rather would opt to bowl first and restrict the opposition to a par total.

The maximum temperature will remain at 32°C, with a low of 27°C with 79% humidity, and a slow wind speed of 19 Km/hr for the third ODI between India and Australia on Mar 22. It is going to be a hot afternoon in Chennai but we can expect a cool wind to blow in the latter half of the innings.

IND vs AUS Squads

IND: Rohit Sharma (c), Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Washington Sundar, Suryakumar Yadav.

AUS: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Ellis, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

IND vs AUS: Probable XIs

IND: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami

Match Prediction

It is the series decider between the two top ODI sides in the world. With the Hosts winning the Test series, Australia would be looking to finish the tour with a win in the white-ball format like they did last time. Smith and co. will be confident after their recent win and the current form of Head, Starc and Marsh.

Though Rohit Sharma-led team India has failed with the bat in the last couple of matches, we still anticipate the key batters in the middle will bounce back and lead the Hosts to a match-winning score. We say India to win this match and make it 2-1.

Suggested Playing XI Real11 Fantasy Cricket