Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur in! India’s predicted playing XI for 3rd ODI against Australia

After suffering a crushing ten-wicket defeat in the second ODI in Vizag on Sunday, India will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they lock horns with Australia in the series-deciding third and final ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, March 22. Mitchell Starc ran riot with the ball, picking up a brilliant five-wicket haul to help the visitors bowl out India for a paltry 117, their fourth-lowest ODI total at home.

Openers Mitchell March and Travis Head then combined to gun down the target inside just 11 overs to hand India their biggest defeat in terms of balls remaining. The shattering defeat once again exposed India’s top-order woes against quality swing and left-arm pace as the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav among others failed to deliver.

It was the second successive golden duck for Suryakumar, who has struggled to replicate his T20I form in ODIs as he continues to struggle for consistency in the fifty-over format. The right-hander was dismissed in a similar fashion in the 2nd ODI as his dismissal in the series opener. Strac trapped him plumb in front of the wicket once again with a brilliant in-swinger.

There remains a question mark over his spot in the playing XI after the twin failures. Indian skipper Rohit, however, has hinted the team management will continue to back the right-hander at number four in the absence of injured Shreyas Iyer.

Virat Kohli top-scored for India in their last game with 31 off 35 balls. Barring him none of the batters managed to apply themselves well on the Vizag track where initial movement assisted the pacers.

India had made only one change in their top order in the last match with Ishan Kishan making the way for Rohit, who returned to lead the side after missing the first game due to personal commitments. No changes are expected in the batting line-up for the series decider as India’s top four are likely to pick themselves.

However, the hosts might bring pace all-rounder Shardul Thakur back in the XI after the move of playing three spinners backfired in the last game. India had failed to get any wickets in Vizag with the Aussie pacers dominating the proceedings.

India can also include young pacer Umran Malik in the XI for the decider after was left to warm the bench in the first two matches. Taking a cue from Starc’s performances in the series so far, India might be tempted to play three specialist pacers along with Hardik and have two spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

In case Umran comes into the XI, it will become difficult for Shardul to make the cut as India wouldn’t want to play at Chepauk with just one spinner. The Chepauk pitch is known to assist spinners and slow down as the game progresses.

However, with rain forecast ahead of the game on Wednesday, pacers are expected to get some assistance at the start of the play. Going by what happened in the last ODI played at the venue, too, India should not compromise on pace. In their last ODI in Chennai, West Indies had chased down the 289-run target comfortably for an eight-wicket win.

Kuldeep and Jadeja were both part of the XI in that match against the Caribbeans. Despite bowling their quota of ten overs each, the spin duo had remained wicket-less as all twelve wickets that fell in the match were taken by pacers. Having got it wrong in the last game where India went with three spinners and the conditions turned out to be pace-friendly, India will be hoping to not repeat their mistakes in Chennai and read the conditions well before picking the final XI.

India’s predicted XI for 3rd ODI against Australia:

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Umran Malik/Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.