India and Australia will battle in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam with a lot at stake. As India won the 1st ODI by five wickets in Mumbai, they will hope to boost their confidence by securing the series on Sunday, March 19. For Australia, it's a matter of survival and saving the series.
With a lot riding on this game, skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed out on the first match due to family commitments, returns to the Playing XI, meaning Ishan Kishan will have to sit out. They have also chosen to go ahead with Axar Patel instead of Shardul Thakur, adding an extra spinner to their team.
Meanwhile, Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first. They go into the match with two changes – Nathan Ellis comes in for Glen Maxwell, who is suffering from a niggle according to skipper Steve Smith, and Alex Carey returns to the side in place of Josh Inglis.
Speaking at the toss, Rohit Sharma shared his thoughts on the game and how it impacts their future matches. It's been a conscious effort for us to be calm and know what to do in situations. In the last few ODI series we have played, we have tried to remain calm… Just looking at the pitch, I thought we will bowl if we win the toss but there can still be some turn in the evening. Not too sure, the pitch has been under the covers. The three spinners are something we might do in the World Cup, so trying it out," he said.
For Australia, Steve spoke about how the side is looking to improve from their loss in the opening game, “Just the partnerships through the middle. We lost wickets in clumps. If we had partnerships, we could've launched in the back end. Hopefully, we'll rectify it today. It's good learning playing here before the World Cup later this year".
India's Playing XI
Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami
Australia's Playing XI
Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (w), Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
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