Australia vs India, 3rd ODI, Match Prediction – Weather Report, Pitch Conditions, Playing XIs and Live Streaming Details

India have lost eight out of their last nine ODIs at the MCG.

Published - 17 Jan 2019, 15:56 IST | Updated - 17 Jan 2019, 15:56 IST

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Australia won the opening ODI against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) by 34 runs and took a much-needed 1-0 lead in the three-match series. However, the Men in Blue came back strong at the Adelaide Oval, winning the second encounter by six wickets. Their bowlers were a tad lacklustre, but the batsmen didn’t allow the pressure to mount on them and helped India draw level in the series.

The third ODI is scheduled to be played tomorrow at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (SCG) and India don’t have great a record at the venue. In the last nine ODIs they played at the venue, the Aussies came out trumps in eight of them. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the numbers of the two teams in the recent past, the Virat Kohli-captained Indian team may be going into the contest with an upper hand.

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch is expected to be a decent one, especially after how the tracks in the first two matches played. Nevertheless, with big boundaries at the MCG, the task for the batsmen won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination and they need to do a lot of running. Also, teams may want to chase as in that scenario they would have a proper target ahead of them in the crunch encounter.

Team Combination

Australia

The hosts have replaced Jason Behrendroff and Nathan Lyon with Billy Stanlake and leg-spinner Adam Zampa. Aaron Finch and Alex Carey would continue to open with left-handed Usman Khawaja at three. Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb would bat at four and five respectively. Stoinis and Maxwell are the all-rounders. Siddle, Richardson and Stanlake are the seamers with Zampa as the spin bowling option.

Probable XI

Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake.

India

The visitors may sideline Mohammed Siraj and bring in either of Khaleel Ahmed and Yuzvendra Chahal. Also, Vijay Shankar may get an opportunity in place of Ravindra Jadeja. The onus would be on Rohit and Dhawan to take India off to a good start. Kohli, Rayudu, Karthik and Dhoni are the men in the middle order. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are the pacers. Kuldeep also needs to step up.

Probable XI

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar/Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal/Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami.