LIVE: Australia faces India in the first of a three-match ODI series on Friday night (from 6pm AEST).
And the Aussies are desperate to turn a poor run of form around, having lost three-straight matches to South Africa to drop the five-match ODI series to the Proteas.
With the World Cup looming, captain Pat Cummins hinted at a bold strategic ploy to get the most out of the bowling unit – having spinner Adam Zampa bowl plenty of overs at the death.
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“Particularly if you pick four frontline bowlers, you’ve got to be ready to bowl in all phases,” Cummins said.
“’Zamps’, he’s effective at not only keeping the run rate down but he can take a couple of wickets at the death, which is really important as well and sometimes it’s a bit harder for pace bowlers to do that.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we keep two, three or four overs up our sleeve with him.”
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Since the last World Cup four years ago, leg-spinner Zampa has taken 74 ODI wickets – the most of any bowler from the 10 teams featuring at this year’s tournament.
That includes 17 wickets bowling at the death (the last 10 overs of the 50). That’s Australia’s best, ahead of Pat Cummins (12) and Mitchell Starc (9), while the leg-spinner also boasts a sensational economy rate at the death.
Since the last World Cup, Zampa’s economy at the death is 6.54 runs an over. Before the South Africa series, where the Proteas demolished an Australian bowling attack missing Starc and Cummins, Zampa’s economy at the death was just 5.56 runs an over.
And in friendlier conditions at Mohali’s Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium, Zampa has a golden chance to rebound from the Proteas’ battering – and to lock in his role as Australia’s strike weapon in the final overs.
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TEAM NEWS
The Australians have been rocked by a hand fracture to Travis Head, with the team set to be without their most prolific batsmen of the last year for at least the first half of the World Cup.
Cummins will return from injury against India in Friday’s opener, but Mitchell Starc will miss the first ODI before a likely return in the second match.
In good news, however, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell will also return for the three-game India series, though Maxwell has been ruled out for the opener.
Pat Cummins suggested the team would rotate the squad for the series with an eye to locking in their best XI for the World Cup.
“We want to strike a balance between getting used to these conditions, hopefully winning some games, but also we don’t want to get to that first game (of the World Cup against India on October 8) and already be cooked,” Cummins said.
“No doubt we’ll be trying a few different combinations, and a few different players will get a chance.
“But ideally, we’d like to structure up pretty closely to how we’re going to play in the World Cup.
“So batters batting in similar positions, as a captain I want to get used to how you use bowlers over here as it might be a bit differently to say South Africa or back in Australia – does the second spinner play a part?
“Hopefully we get some answers over the next few games.”
FULL STORY: Aussies missing key players for series opener as superstars return from injury
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TEAMS
Australia ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
India squad for first two ODIs: KL Rahul (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs India 1st ODI – live stats, scorecard, and more!
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