Fun Fact: We have never one a ODI at the new Optus Stadium (3 attempts)
Team news: Renshaw in line to debut; how do India balance their attack?
Matt Renshaw and
Mitch Owen are set to make their ODI debuts in the middle order while Josh Philippe will play his first ODI since 2021 and his first as wicketkeeper. Mitchell Marsh said they would not go with an all-pace frontline attack which means left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann, who is covering for Zampa, will feature on home soil for the first time.
Australia (possible): 1 Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Matt Short, 4 Matt Renshaw, 5 Josh Philippe (wk), 6 Mitch Owen, 7 Cooper Connolly, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Matt Kuhnemann, 11 Josh Hazlewood
India will need to ponder who slots into the No. 8 role and whether they want the extra batting of Washington Sundar. Despite the team's last ODI being in March they are set to have the same top six as the Champions Trophy final.
India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Axar Patel, 7 Nitish Reddy, 8 Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna/Arshdeep Singh
Pitch and conditions
Albeit from a small sample size of
three games spread over six years, Optus Stadium has been a relatively low-scoring ODI venue. Australia have been bundled out for 152 and 140 in their last two visits here in the format. There is generally something for everyone in the drop-in pitches although this is the first game at the ground since last season. The bigger factor could be the weather with showers forecast during the day.
