It's raining runs in the ongoing India-Australia ODI series, with 1257 runs being scored from just the first two matches. More excitement awaits cricket fans with five more games to be played in the next two weeks.
Australia's tour of India turned into an exciting one with the one-off Twenty20 match, in which the hosts chased down the visitors' score of 201, setting up the momentum for a competitive series. The seven-match ODI series is now level at 1-1, with Australia winning the opener at Pune and India triumphing at Jaipur.
The third ODI, to be played at the Punjab C.A. Stadium in Mohali, is also expected to witness big scores from the teams, as its pitch is also tailor-made for batsmen, just like the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune and Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
"The Champions League matches were quite high scoring and the pitches had good bounce and carry. I can say that the Twenty20 matches were like a dress-rehearsal ahead of this ODI. Expect the same on Saturday," Daljit Singh, chief curator at the PCA Stadium, told The Indian Express.
Singh went on to say that the dew factor will come into the picture, despite the match timing in Mohali being advanced by an hour.
"The monsoons have just got over. At this time of the year in Mohali, dew starts to set in later in the evening. It is especially severe in winters, but yes even now dew comes up every evening," Singh told the daily.
"We have stopped watering the pitch, the outfield has been mown close to the ground and we will use a non-toxic spray on the match day to keep the dew away from the field. In addition we will also use thick ropes to remove dew from the ground during the second half of the match."
The two ODIs played so far have witnessed bowlers been hit all over the park, as the flat pitches at Pune and Jaipur favoured batsmen. Australia scored 304 in the first ODI and India failed to chase it down.
However, the second ODI was different all together with India successfully chasing Australia's score of 359, with more than six overs to spare. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scored centuries and Shikhar Dhawan scored 95 for India, while five Australian batsmen - Aaron Finch, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell - scored half-centuries.
