Key events
13th over: Australia 113-1 (Marsh 41, Smith 16) Washington Sundar for some spin-twinning. Drops short though, blasted by Marsh at point, Shreyas Iyer half stops it but the pace on the ball takes it through him for two. Two more driven down the ground, then Marsh steps back nimbly and punches a straight ball through cover point for four, nothing Shreyas can do there.
12th over: Australia 104-1 (Marsh 33, Smith 15) Jadeja tries to burn through an over as he does in Test cricket, but Smith finds a boundary through cover.
11th over: Australia 97-1 (Marsh 32, Smith 9) Mitchell Marsh is striking them beautifully, two chopped cuts behind point. The first goes for four, the second they’ve moved the sweeper squarer to keep it to one. A few singles. Prasidh Krishna has recovered to 1 for 32 from three overs, after 19 from one.
10th over: Australia 90-1 (Marsh 27, Smith 7) Jadeja with some spin, even with an over of fielding restrictions to go. That costs them three, as Marsh drives four through cover where there would normally be a deep sweeper. Smith drives one.
9th over: Australia 84-1 (Marsh 22, Smith 6) Warner has given his team the Super Mushroom boost. Now it’s up to his colleagues to use that lead, or India to find some Koopa shells. Smith is next to the middle. Gets going with a flicked two, closes the over with a cover-driven four.
WICKET! Warner c KL Rahul b Krishna 56, Australia 18-1
Flying start, falling exit. Once again Warner is dismissed falling over towards the off side, this time trying to scoop a fast bowler rather than switch-hit a spinner as he was the other night. Gets a little glove or splice on the ball as it goes by, nothing more.
Half century! David Warner 55 in 32 balls
8th over: Australia 78-0 (Warner 56, Marsh 22) Huge appeal from keeper and bowler as Siraj gets a bouncer to lift just over Warner’s gloves as the batter tries to cut. They really go for it. Then as the umpire shakes his head and Rohit the captain enquires of his players, KL laughs, making Siraj laugh, and they go about their day without a review. Warner goes about his, cutting the next ball for four. Picks up a couple more off his pads, then pulls another six!
Three fifties in three hits this series, and this the fastest of the lot.
7th over: Australia 65-0 (Warner 43, Marsh 22) Gets hold of a short ball that time, does Warner. Prasidh Krishna comes on, the lanky right-hander, and Warner goes after his bouncer. Doesn’t get it cleanly but drags it in front of square for four. Then a very compact boundary by opening the face of the bat and steering, and a far more lavish one, advancing, seeing width, chasing it with an inside-out flourish over cover point for four! That is some stroke.
Not done yet. Short on his hip, and he helps it around the corner for six! Pick-up pull, sails away like Enya. Prasidh has gone for 19 from his first.
6th over: Australia 46-0 (Warner 24, Marsh 22) Good over from Siraj, troubles Warner with the short ball a couple of times and the Australian opener can’t make contact. Two singles.
5th over: Australia 44-0 (Warner 23, Marsh 21) Another good shot from Warner, flicking Bumrah behind square leg and beating the fine leg for four. That after Jadeja stopped a Marsh cut on the boundary to save three runs with a good dive.
4th over: Australia 37-0 (Warner 18, Marsh 19) Now Warner is up and running: width from Siraj for the left-hander, and he slashes an angled bat at it, hitting it firmly through cover for a four that is more pragmatic than aesthetic. More style points for his next big shot though! Picks it off from an off-stump line, Siraj maybe hoping it would swing into the pads but it holds true, and Warner sends it soaring over wide long on for six. And he goes again to close the over! Full pitch, straight swing of the bat, six more right over the sightscreen! Cop that.
3rd over: Australia 21-0 (Warner 2, Marsh 19) First ball of this over gets schpanked! Not the classical cover drive this time, the brutish straight drive. Marsh gets under Bumrah’s fuller length and hits him over the top for four. Plays a couple with an open face, not beating the field, then drops short and Marsh bangs him for six. Hefty pull shot, plenty of top edge in it, so it hangs over the boundary before dropping, but it goes well in front of square. Nothing but middle on the fifth ball though, smoked through point for four! Width gets a big square drive. Bumrah closes the over with a slower yorker that Marsh defends.
2nd over: Australia 7-0 (Warner 2, Marsh 5) Siraj to share the new ball, and starts well, swinging the ball, drawing some false shots. Warner particularly can’t time him, miscues a couple of shots. Two singles from the over.
1st over: Australia 5-0 (Warner 1, Marsh 4) Good first over from Bumrah. Has Warner playing carefully off the back foot for a few, defending away before taking a single. Marsh has no such impulse: on the front foot first ball, stroking through the covers for four. Lovely shot.
Bumrah versus Warner to begin. We’re underway…
Teams
Changes galore! Matt Short out for Marsh, Josh Inglis for Maxwell in the middle, Sean Abbott and Spencer Johnson for Starc and Cummins, and Tanveer Sangha in his ODI debut (!) for Adam Zampa.
Kohli will open, pairing with Rohit to replace Gill and Ruturaj Gaekwad. KL Rahul played last time but will keep wicket in place is Ishan Kishan, who is ill. That brings SKY and Jadeja up the order with Washington Sundar in at seven. Then Kuldeep replaces Ravichandran Ashwin, with Bumrah and Siraj for Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami.
Australia
Mitchell Marsh
David Warner
Steven Smith
Marnus Labuschagne
Alex Carey +
Glenn Maxwell
Cameron Green
Pat Cummins *
Mitchell Starc
Tanveer Sangha
Josh Hazlewood
India
Rohit Sharma *
Virat Kohli,
Shreyas Iyer
KL Rahul +
Suryakumar Yadav
Ravindra Jadeja
Washington Sundar
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohammed Siraj
Prasidh Krishna
Australia win the toss and bat
As we suspected, the chance to put a score up instead of being pulverised is appealing. Although Shubman Gill is being rested, which shows a poor understanding of his pursuit of the ODI calendar year runs record.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
One last chance. One chance for some good vibes for Australia ahead of the World Cup. Ok, sure, there will be a couple of official warm-up games too, ones that aren’t official ODIs, after these unofficial warm-up games that are official ODIs. But you know what I mean. Australia got battered last time out, taken for 399 by India’s batting. They would probably like to bat first at Rajkot.
Lots of chances for fringe players in this series, but some of the big guns are coming back now. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will for India, Australia will get Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, maybe Glenn Maxwell too. Could be fun.
