Ahead of the first Australia v India ODI, former India cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has picked the hosts as favorites for Friday’s (November 27) game at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
India will kick start their international season – post the COVID-19-forced break with the Australia tour – where Virat Kohli and his team will take on the mighty hosts in a 3-match ODI series, followed by 3 T20Is, and 4 Tests starting with the tour opener on Friday in Sydney.
While the hosts Australians are coming into the ODI series on the back of 2-1 series win in England, Indians were whitewashed in their last ODI series in New Zealand earlier in the year and Chopra opined that Aaron Finch and his team will have a slight edge over the tourists in the series.
The former batsman has pointed out that Australia is a better-balanced team as compared to India in ODI cricket, saying the hosts have Marcus Stoinis at the No. 7 while India have Ravindra Jadeja and he feels the conditions will favor the Aussie over the all-rounder.
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He further noted that Glenn Maxwell at the top six can provide useful overs to Australia, while India doesn’t have a single batsman in the top 6 who has bowled in the recent past, whereas, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are also capable of batting – which is an additional benefit to the hosts over Team India.
In his YouTube video, Chopra said, “They have Stoinis at No.7 and we have got Jaddu. These are the Australian pitches, so the story will be different. Stoinis and Maxwell will also give them overs. So that is the other difference, that no one is bowling in our top 6 while they have a bowler in their top 6, so, that makes the balance a little better. And after that Cummins, who bats well, Starc, who also bats well.”
He signed off by saying, “So, if we see in terms of all-rounders, the Australian team has a little more depth. They have batting till No.8 or No.9 while our batting will end at No.7. So I feel the balance tilts slightly towards Australia,”
