Team India will begin their ODI World Cup 2023 campaign by facing Australia in the fifth match of the tournament. The IND vs AUS match will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from 2 PM IST onwards.
The presence of a genuine quick bowler like Hardik Pandya will certainly allow India to explore options of playing three specialist spinners during the World Cup, reasoned skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of his side’s opening game against Australia on Sunday.
India has left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and slow left-arm orthodox Ravindra Jadeja in their rank and Rohit dropped hints that all three could feature in the playing XI at Chepauk, which at times could offer a tacky surface.
Asked if he is game on playing the troika of slow operators, Rohit replied: “Yeah, I mean that’s the luxury we have where we can afford to play three spinners because I don’t really consider Hardik Pandya as just a seamer,’ said Rohit in his pre-match press meet.
“He (Hardik) is a proper fast bowler, who can crank up good speed. So, that gives us an advantage. That gives us that luxury of playing three spinners and three seamers as well. So, there’s a possibility of that,” he added.
While Rohit officially maintained that Shubman Gill, who is down with dengue, is still not ruled out, he gave enough indications that the young opener is unlikely to get fit for Sunday’s game.
“No, it doesn’t worry. I mean obviously he is sick. I feel for him. But in terms of, you know, me being the human being first, I want him to get well, not the captain thinking, oh, I want Gill to play tomorrow. No, I want him to get well,” Rohit answered to a query about how worried he is about his opening partner.
“He’s a young guy. He’s got a fit body so he’ll recover quickly,” Rohit Sharma said,
On the other side, Australian captain Pat Cummins said the team management is keeping a close watch on the fitness of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who has picked up a hamstring injury, ahead of their World Cup match against India. Cummins said Stoinis would be put through his paces in the next few hours before taking a final call on the Western Australian cricketer.
“We’ll announce a team tomorrow at the toss. Stoinis, yeah, still touch and go. He’s going to have a run out soon, but probably up against it. He’s got to jump through a few hoops. Yeah, we’ll see,” said Cummins on Saturday during his pre-match press meet.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa suffered a rather freak bruise on his face during a swimming session when he collided against the pool wall. However, Cummins allayed any concerns over the leg-spinner.
“He swam into the pool wall apparently. He said he had his eyes closed and thought he was swimming in a straight line and swam into the step in the pool. So, (he) looks impressive. He’s all good. He’s just a little bit sore. But yeah, he’s right to go,” said Cummins.
Here are the live streaming and live telecast details about the India vs Australia World Cup 2023 match: