Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first against hosts India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai as both teams are kicking off their 2023 World Cup campaigns on Sunday.
Speaking at the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma informed that young Shubman Gill hasn’t recovered from his illness in time and left-handed batter Ishan Kishan will open the innings with him.
Indian team is also playing with three spinners — Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav — at Chepauk, a venue that has witnessed a number of classic games in the past.
“The conditions are there for the bowlers and the ball will turn as the game goes on, you need to understand what line and lengths to bowl and adjust accordingly. We played a lot of cricket before that, we played two good series before the warm up games, we have covered all bases,” said Rohit at the toss.
“Unfortunately he (Shubman Gill) didn’t recover in time, we waited till today morning and he couldn’t recover. Ishan comes in to replace him, he will open the batting,” he added.
On the other hand, Australia also fielded a balanced playing XI for this all important match.
“We’ll bat first, looks like a good wicket. The sun is out and looks like a good afternoon to bat. We are in a really good spot, we have played quite a lot of cricket but we got a good balance of giving guys game time and keeping them fresh. Travis Head is on a couch in Adelaide, Abbott, Stoinis and Inglis miss out,” said Pat Cummins at the toss.
Pitch report:
“It will be a slowish surface, might be two paced and just looking at the color, much darker on one side and lighter on the other. I have seen Chennai pitches being harder and flatter, but this will be a little bit on the slower side, if you bowl back of a length and don’t give pace then it won’t be easy,” said Ravi Shastri.
“It looks drier than the usual Chennai wicket and will slow down as the game progresses. The spinners will come into the game from ball one only,” added Harbhajan Singh.
Playing XIs of both teams:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Australia : David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey(w), Cameron Green, Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
