Riding high on confidence after beating Sri Lanka across all formats (Tests, ODIs, and T20Is), Virat Kohli’s men will next take on the mighty foes – Australia for the five match ODI series and three-match T20I series on September 17.
In many ways, India’s tour of Sri Lanka was a lopsided one with the latter simply failing to put up any challenge against the authoritative Indian team. However, the limited-overs series against Australia promises to provide some action-packed thrillers as both the teams look balanced on paper and are equally capable of turning the tide on any given day.
On, one hand – Team India will be looking to continue their winning momentum on their home soil, while, Australia have once again got their confidence back after the series-levelling win against Bangladesh in the second Test.
Earlier this year, both India and Australia played a highly competitive four-match Test series in India which the hosts won 2-1. Australia won the first Test against India in Pune but failed to repeat their performance in the next three games. Since then, Australia have been knocked out of the ICC Champions Trophy in the group stage while India lost in the CT final to Pakistan.
Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati will be hosting international matches for the first time during the India vs Australia series. Before the ODI series, Australia will play a warm-up match against Board President's XI on September 12.
The fast bowling duo of Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami on Sunday returned to the 16-member India squad for the first three games of the five-match ODI series against Australia. The selectors have chosen to rest leading spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, as per the BCCI's rotation policy, for the first three games of the series, starting September 17 in Chennai.
India's Squad for first 3 ODIs vs Australia :
Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
Australia ODI squad:
Steve Smith (C), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Adam Zampa
Australia T20I squad:
Steve Smith (C), David Warner (VC), Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
India vs Australia – ODI Series Schedule
September 17: First ODI, Chennai
September 21: Second ODI, Kolkata
September 24: Third ODI, Indore
September 28: Fourth ODI, Bangalore
October 1: Fifth ODI, Nagpur
India vs Australia – T20I Series Schedule
October 7: First T20I, Ranchi
October 10: Second T20I, Guwahati
October 13: Third T20I, Hyderabad
