Australian skipper Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat first in the fifth and final ODI.
India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar (C) (Photo: AFP)
Bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah made their entry in India’s playing XI as captain Virat Kohli displayed his faith in pacers to end the five-match ODI series on a good note in Nagpur.
Australian skipper Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat first in the fifth and final ODI at the VCA Stadium on Sunday.
“It looks pretty dry, hopefully, it would slow on as the game goes by and we can post a good total. It was nice to win the last one, I thought we batted pretty well to get 300 on the board; we’d like to replicate that today and get a big one,” Smith said after winning the toss.
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The Aussie captain added that pacer Kane Richardson is sick and will be replaced by James Faulkner.
“The pitch looks very hard, we would’ve batted first as well but it shouldn’t change much through the game. It is a relaid surface so there wouldn’t be much of wear and tear. The last time we played here we chased down 350, so happy memories of the ground for us,” Kohli said.
The Indian captain firmly believes that all they need is to get the processes right.
“We’ve done really well in the series, capitalising in the first three games and coming back hard. In the last game, I thought we played well but I thought Australia did better. Incentives are plenty, every time we step onto the field, we get an opportunity to do well. We need to focus on every game and come back hard,” the 28-year-old cricketer added.
Besides Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah, spinner Kuldeep Yadav also made a cut. The pacers will come in place of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, while Yadav replaced Yuzvendra Chahal in the playing XI.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli (C), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (WK), Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav
Australia Playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Steven Smith (C), Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (WK), James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa
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