The ODI series between Australia and India is totally filled with excitement. After the action-packed second ODI, both the teams are evenly locked at 1-1. The series decider between the two teams will now be played in the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday.
After a long two-months series, both the teams will lock horns for the final time. The Men in Yellow have last won an ODI series two years back. In the bid to win this series they have made a couple of changes to their squad.
Spinner Nathan Lyon has made his way for leg-spinner Adam Zampa. Pacer Jason Behrendorff has been left out in favour of Billy Stanlake.
Both the excluded players have played well in the last two matches. But the team failed to defend 299 in the previous ODI. Hence the management wanted to bring some variety to the squad, and hence the changes are made.
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Siddle retains his place in the playing XI
Surprisingly veteran Peter Siddle managed to hold on to his spot. He went wicketless in the previous game as his match figures were 0/58 in eight overs.
On the other hand, left-arm pacer Behrendorff did better than Siddle. He gave 52 runs in his 8.2 overs and took the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma.
Even Nathan Lyon did pretty well with the holding job. But he failed to pick wickets in the middle overs which is essential in modern day cricket.
Zampa’s leg spin and variations will provide much-needed variety and might put the Indians under pressure. However the Aussies need their openers to click as well. In both the previous games they were slow to get off the blocks as they lost early wickets.
Australia’s playing XI in third ODI:
Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (wk), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake