A short turnaround from the Ranchi ODI affords India yet another opportunity to seal the five-match series when they take on Australia in the fourth ODI in Mohali.
Team news
Rishabh Pant will finally get his opportunity to make a mark in the Indian ODI setup in this series as batting coach Sanjay Bangar has announced that MS Dhoni will be rested for the last two ODIs. This move is not as much a requirement for Dhoni as is the management's wish to make a call on the reserve wicketkeeper heading into the World Cup.
Captain Virat Kohli has already confirmed that there will be changes for the next couple of games and a couple of them can be predicted. Ambati Rayudu will most likely make way for KL Rahul as India would want to give their openers as much game time to return to form given how crucial the top three has been to India's success over the last few years.
The other change will most likely see Yuzvendra Chahal come in but whether he replaces Ravindra Jadeja or Kuldeep Yadav remains to be seen. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also back in the squad and the management would definitely give him a game to help him get back his rhythm. Bhuvi has not been at his best of late and hence it is important he gets back to his lethal self ahead of the World Cup. He will most probably replace Mohammed Shami giving a bit of batting cushion to the lower order. This may allow Chahal to be paired up with Kuldeep which has reaped India a lot of success.
For Australia, their openers finally came to the party in the third ODI as skipper Aaron Finch scored 93 while his partner Usman Khawaja notched up his maiden ODI century to set the game up perfectly. Although the flurry at the end was missing, the Aussies did enough to win the game. The Mohali pitch will not suit the spinners as much as the other pitches have thus far. Hence, Nathan Lyon may make way for Jason Behrendorff.
Nathan Coulter-Nile will be unavailable for this game as he has flown back home for the birth of his child. The rest of the team will remain unchanged as the visitors will look to draw level with one game remaining.
Probable XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
Australia: Aaron Finch (C), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa
Pitch and conditions
The pitch in Mohali is expected to be good for batting and may not assist the spinners as much as the other tracks have thus far in this series. But the square boundaries of the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium is long which will be a relief for the spinners. Dew was expected to play a part in Ranchi but there wasn't any so it will be interesting to see what the captain who wins the toss decides to do.
It is not summer yet in Mohali as it perhaps is in other parts of India. The temperature is expected to be in the early 20 degrees Celcius range in the afternoon and drop as the game progresses. No rain is forecast but a gentle breeze may make the evening slightly chilly.