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India in must-win situation

SYDNEY: Their World Cup preparations derailed by successive losses, India would look to reignite the spark and keep themselves afloat in the ODI cricket tri-series when they take on an unbeaten Australia in a must-win game here on Monday.

India in must-win situation

The return of Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja to fitness will give India more options to firm up their attack for the do-or-die game against Australia on Monday. file photo



Sydney, JANUARY 25

Their World Cup preparations derailed by successive losses, India would look to reignite the spark and keep themselves afloat in the ODI cricket tri-series when they take on an unbeaten Australia in a must-win game here on Monday. With three victories in three matches, the hosts have already qualified for the final in Perth on February 1.

The heavy loss to England in Brisbane means that India will have to win both their remaining games, on MOnday here and then in Perth against England, with a decent margin. They will probably need to garner bonus points in both the matches.

In that light, it is perhaps good news that Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are available for tomorrow’s game. It remains to be seen though if they will be picked in the playing eleven, especially Jadeja, as there still remains some doubt over his fielding capability in the outfield.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of this match as a hamstring injury continues to bother him. However, at this point in time, his participation in the World Cup is not in doubt.

As such, India’s batting order is nearly pre-decided. Ajinkya Rahane will once again open with Shikhar Dhawan, who will be desperately searching for some form. The debate will be on whether Virat Kohli will continue to bat at number four. There has been a huge debate over this move from the Indian team management, with many thinking that the best batsman in the side should bat higher up the order.

Statistically, Kohli has done well at both number three and four. He averages 51.97 at number three, scoring 14 of his 21 ODI hundreds there, a run of form that has seen parallels drawn with the likes of Sir Vivian Richards and Ricky Ponting.

However, before he made that spot his own, Kohli had batted at number four for India, and indeed played a pivotal role in the 2011 World Cup for the team. In this debate, Kohli’s performances at that slot have been forgotten. Kohli averages 61.35 at number four, playing one of his most memorable knocks against Sri Lanka in Hobart on the 2011-12 tour, wherein he smacked the bowling to all parts of the ground as he scored a rousing 133 not out off only 86 balls. And that particular innings is the explanation behind this ploy.

Another point of discussion in the Indian dressing room could be the lower-middle order, particularly from the point of view of scoring quick runs in the death overs. Stuart Binny enjoyed a good outing at the Gabba — both with bat and ball — and he is in the World Cup squad to play this double-role. He had also opened the bowling in Brisbane and as such can play as the third medium-pace option. With R Ashwin, Akshar Patel (or Jadeja) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar batting after him, it will prolong the batting and strengthen the lower order.

While Dhoni has mentioned on a couple occasions that Binny’s presence will come in handy on helpful wickets, it remains to be seen if the skipper will entertain the thought of playing him on slower tracks as well, like the one at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

While India need to find a balance between experimentation for the World Cup and their best playing eleven for the must-win next two matches, Australia have no such worry. Having already qualified for the Perth final, they will use this match to rest a couple of players as well as fine-tune their permutations and combinations for the big tournament ahead. To this effect, George Bailey is back in charge of the side after Steve Smith did the job against England on Friday. — PTI

Live on Star Sports 8:50 am

SC verdict: My name keeps popping up, says Dhoni

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally broke his stoic silence over the IPL spot-fixing scandal on Sunday, saying that he does not expect the speculation around his name to stop anytime soon despite nothing concrete coming up against him. Dhoni, who captains Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, has been remarkably calm in the last couple of years despite his name regularly cropping up in cases pertaining to conflict of interest. There was wild speculation about his name being among the yet-to-be-released list of 13 players, who have been indicted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee in the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal. “I know one thing, irrespective of what is there, when it comes to Indian cricket, my name keeps popping up. Now that this has been settled, something new will pop up. It keeps popping up. I am quite used to it,” Dhoni said ahead of the tri-series match against Australia. “If there is nothing, some speculative story comes up, big or small. I have to keep dealing with all these things. It is the end of one story, something else may start in a couple of days’ time,” Dhoni said.

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