Daijiworld Media Network

Canberra , Jan 20 : Greetings all! Remember Maxwell's massacre at the MCG? Just a day before the season's first Grand Slam tournament (Australian Open) began in Melbourne - Maxi lit his hometown with a blazing, bravado knock to seal the series for his country. I'm pretty sure a few tennis stars might have been mesmerised by Maxi's flat-bat biffs and forearm strokes. That was that on Sunday. Let's shift our focus to 410 miles away from Melbourne which is the Australian capital Canberra. We saw scores of 309, 308 and 295 being chased down with ease. So, what's the safe target these days? Maybe India should score the amount of distance they travelled (in miles) to reach Canberra. I still suspect if that would be enough.

Australia have won the toss and have opted to bat

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Rishi Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Australia (Playing XI): Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith(c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade(w), James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, John Hastings, Nathan Lyon

Dhoni: 'It gives us an opportunity to chase down the target, just one change for us, Barinder Sran has been replaced by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In a team sport, it's important to perform well. It's been disappointing ( to lose the series), we have been quite consistent, but at the end of the day, we need to win games. There are two more games to go, it's a learning curve, the youngsters will get better for the experience.'

Smith: 'We will bat. It's pretty warm, looks like a good wicket, slows up later on. Nathan Lyon and David Warner are back, they replace Scott Boland and Shaun Marsh. Maxwell was calm and composed the other night, we are looking for more such performances from him in future.'

Word-to-word compilation of raillery between Kohli and Faulkner from the last game (heard from the stump mic).

Kohli: You're wasting your energy. There's no point
Faulkner: Having fun are we?
Kohli: I've smashed you enough in my life. No Point. Just go and bowl.
Faulkner: Smiles! (as he trundles back to his bowling crease)

Meanwhile, here's what our correspondent Vishaal Loganathan has to report from the ground: 'It's bright and sunny out there. Ashwin and Jadeja were bowling early, so India could go in with two spinners.'

Adding to the team changes, Nathan Lyon the current best Australian spinner, might play his first ODI in 16 months, at the expense of Scott Boland. For India, MSD would be tempted to bring Bhuvneshwar back in place of the impressive left-arm pacer Barinder Sran who has had a nightmare in the last game. Ashwin will most probably replace Rishi Dhawan and Axar Patel could well get a game. The Indian captain, however, likes to play his cards close to his chest.

First up, David Warner returns from paternity leave, and will regain his place in the side meaning Shaun Marsh might well have to face the axe. Although Marsh took full advantage of the opportunity, the chances of him being selected seem highly unlikely. Tells us something regarding the competitiveness, ain't it? Speaking of competitiveness, India failed to compete with the mighty Aussies in all 3 departments. Although batting wasn't singled out much, many critics lamented the lacklustre approach of Indian batting in the middle overs. Let's see if India can put that myth to bed tonight.

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