Preview: Australia v India – 1st ODI

First Published : 04 Feb 2012, 10:59
Last Modified : 04 Feb 2012, 11:35

By: Akshay Manwani

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What

The first One-Day International of the tri-series competition featuring Australia, India and Sri Lanka. India clash against the hosts in the opening encounter.

When

February 05, 2012. The game begins at 08:50 IST.

Where

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne. Although Australia enjoy a winning record overall at this venue, they have lost six of the last 10 ODIs played here. India, on the other hand, will be buoyed by the fact that the last time they played an ODI against the hosts at Melbourne, in February 2008, they won by five wickets.

The Teams

The Australian ODI team looks like a healthy combination of their Test and T20I squads. Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Ryan Harris provide the experience to the side while David Hussey, Dan Christian, Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh provide the T20 effect. The squad also boasts of genuine match-winners like David Warner and Brett Lee in the limited-overs format. However, it could be Peter Forrest, the leading Sheffield Shield-scorer with 581 runs from 11 innings, who proves to be the  ace up Australia’s sleeve when they take on the Indians.

India will be boosted by the availability of Sachin Tendulkar in the side. As evident in the two-match T20I series, the presence of youngsters like Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma dramatically improves the fielding ability of the side. Finally, with Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav having been rested for the T20 matches, India’s pace-bowling attack will be bolstered by the return of either or both players. Overall, India will look to put the disappointment of the Test series behind them by looking to reclaim a competition they won at last attempt in early 2008.

Key Players

• Michael Hussey won the Man-of-the-Series award when Australia edged South Africa 2-1 in the recently concluded three-match ODI series played in October 2011. The Australian has averaged 58.2 in his last eight ODI innings and his recent form in the Test series against India is ominous for the touring sides in the tri-series.
• MS Dhoni finished 2011 as the second-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs with an aggregate of 764 runs. Beginning with his unbeaten 91 in the ICC ODI World Cup final, Dhoni has scored 539 runs at a staggering average of 179.66 in his last 10 ODI innings. Even when India failed to record a single win on their tour to England last year, Dhoni was named Man-of-the-Series for his 236 runs from five innings at an average of 78.66.

Trivia

• Michael Clarke has aggregated 1386 runs at an average of 51.33 in 35 ODIs in which he has captained Australia. Only one player (with a minimum qualification of 25 matches as captain) has a better average in all ODIs – 56.62 by MS Dhoni.

• Sachin Tendulkar, who will be playing his first ODI since the World Cup final against Sri Lanka, will become the player with the longest career-span amongst players of the format. He surpasses Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya’s record of 21 years 185 days.

Venue Stats

Australia – played – 110, won - 64, lost – 42, tied – 1, no result – 3

India – played - 16, won - 8, lost – 8, tied – 0, no result – 0

Highest total in an innings: ICC World XI 344/8 in 50.0 overs v Asia XI – January 10, 2005

Lowest total in an innings: England 94 in 31.7(x8) overs v Australia - February 7, 1979

Best individual score in an innings: Mark Waugh (Australia) – 173 v West Indies – February 9, 2001

Best bowling figures in an innings: Ajit Agarkar (India) 9.3-1-42-6 v Australia – January 9, 2004

Average first innings score at the MCG in ODIs:

In day/night matches: 218

In all matches: 216

Result summary at the MCG in ODIs:

Head-to-head:

Last ODI meeting between Australia and India:  March 24, 2011 (ICC ODI World Cup Q/F)

Brief scores: India (261-5) beat Australia (260-6) by 5 wickets

Form guide in ODIs (most recent listed first):

Australia:  Won, Lost, Won, Lost, Won (3 wins, 2 losses)

India: Won, Won, Lost, Won, Won (4 wins, 1 loss)

The Squads        

India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan & Irfan Pathan

Australia: Michael Clarke (c), Dan Christian, Xavier Doherty, Peter Forrest, Ryan Harris, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Brett Lee, Mitchell Marsh, Clint McKay, Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade (wk) & David Warner

All stats are as on February 04, 2012