India have been brilliant in the ongoing ODI series against Australia. Virat Kohli and his men have got the series in their bag after having beaten Australia 3-0, so the Aussies are just playing for pride in the next two ODIs.
Despite losing the series, Australia will be hell bent in showing their competitive character as they face Australia in the fourth ODI in Bengaluru on Thursday. Beating India in the last two matches will act as consolation, and winding up the series at 2-3 definitely looks better for the visitors.
India, on the other hand, will be aiming for another clean sweep. It remains to be seen if India can do another Sri Lanka, who were beaten 5-0 by Virat Kohli and his men in the last ODI series.
Captains hardly like to break a winning combination, but with the series already won, Kohli hinted about the possibility of giving players some game time. This brings players like Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami into the picture.
It would not come as a surprise if Kedar Jadhav, who has not had a good series so far, would be benched, allowing Rahul a game.
Besides this one change, one does not see India making any changes in the batting line-up while Mohammed Shami may come in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the fourth ODI.
Australia have been forced into making some change.
Ashton Agar has fractured his finger, which will allow Adam Zampa, who featured in the first ODI, to replace the left-arm spinner. Though they might stick with Peter Handscomb as the wicketkeeper, the visitors will want him to be much more productive with the bat.
Pitch conditions
Weather is never predictable in Bengaluru, and there are chances of rain playing spoilsport. But, one thing is for sure, the playing surface at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium has always assisted the batsmen.
Add that with the small boundaries size, a run feast is on the cards with some amazing stroke makers in both the team.
Confirmed Playing XI
India
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Panday, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
Australia
Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade (w), Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.
