India vs. Australia - 2nd ODI: Preview - Time for youngsters to shine
The 2nd One Day International match between India and Australia will be played today, October 20, 2010 at Dr. Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam at 09:00 GMT. It will be a day/night match with weather conditions predicted to
remain excellent. The expected clear skies and bright sun will provide both teams with an ideal condition for a good game.
India takes on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the second ODI of the three match series. The first ODI was called off on Sunday October 17, 2010 due to heavy rains and the match was suspended without any ball being bowled. So, the series is currently tied at 0-0 with two games
remaining, which means that it can be anyone’s game. Both teams will work hard to take the series lead. Australia, however, might go an extra mile to take the lead after their defeat in the Test series 0-2 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
The Indian side has many aging as well as unfit players and there is a greater opportunity for lesser known players such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228 and Ravindera Jadeja to shine. Jadeja especially has a
make it or break it situation at hand as he is yet to prove himself. He hasn't been much consistent in both batting and bowling. M S Dhoni advised him “to do a bit more with the bat” as his bowling already has the captain's full backing.
Meanwhile, Ashwin is a much better bowler than Jadeja who can also bat a bit but Indian selectors and team management would be watching him closely. This is the series where these two young guns can find their way permanently into the Indian national team.
The Indian side has some out-of-form players as well such as Yuvraj Singh, who is still fighting for a place in the World Cup squad while the Indian skipper Dhoni himself had a tough time during the test matches against Australia.
On the other hand, Australia also has some young players in their squad particularly Mithcell Starc, who gets a chance in the match as Doug Bollinger is presently a “doubtful starter”. Bollinger is yet to recover from an abdominal strain that earlier saw
him being ruled out of the Banglore test match also.
The fast bowler Starc would be making his debut and critics, who have been following his stats, have already declared him
one to watch. Although, experts still think that he is raw but given a chance he has the potential to give his fellow team mates a run for their money.
Ricky Ponting isn't leading the Australian squad this time around which gives Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 an opportunity to showcase his leadership skills. India has a poor chasing record against Australia, having lost 34 games while batting second and won only 17.
The match is scheduled to begin in the afternoon and will be played till close with a 45 minutes lunch break in between after the first batting session.
India has previously won two ODI matches against Pakistan and Srilanka in 2005 and 2007 respectively on the same ground. The ground also holds a special meaning to Dhoni as he had his maiden hundred against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 there in 2005. It would be interesting
to see if India manages to take the lead and this new ground would then indeed be lucky for them.
Tags: