ODI World Cup in focus as India take on familiar foes Australia at Wankhede

Star allrounder Hardik Pandyas leadership skills and Indias overall World Cup preparedness will be under focus when the home side begin their threematch ODI series against Australia here on FridayPandya will captain the Indian team in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma who is unavailable for the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium due to family commitmentsThe daynight match will be Pandyas first as captain in an ODI though he is the the regular India skipper in the T20 format He is also the designated vicecaptain for the ODI seriesCollectively as a team the focus will shift from winning the fourmatch Test series for the BorderGavaskar Trophy and qualifying for the World Test Championships final in June against the same opponents Australia to starting preparations for the 50over World Cup the country is hosting later this yearKeeping in mind that India had won the title the last time the country hosted the tournament with MS Dhonis team winning the trophy in 2011 similar expectations will be from Sharma and companyThe expectations will be particularly high because the Indian team is a different beast in any format while playing at home Moreover the unwanted record of not doing well enough in the knockout matches of the ICC hounding this group of players the team will be desperate to turn things aroundIndia will also look to make the most of the incredible start they have had in ODIs at home this year winning all six matches in total against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in two separate seriesAlso ReadWTC Final Will Hardik Pandya don the whites again Heres what BCCI has in mindWith 567 runs and three centuries in just six ODIs and averaging 11340 Shubman Gill has made a cracking start to the World Cup year and Sharmas absence in the first match will put more limelight on the righthanded batter who is coming off a quality Test century against Australia in the fourth and final match in AhmedabadBatting maestro Virat Kohli had left the lean patch in whiteball cricket far behind and his 338 runs in six matches at 6760 indicate that the runmachine can be expected to add more to the 75 centuries that he has accumulated in international cricket so farKohlis battle with Australia legspinner Adam Zampa is one of the matchups to watch out for with the bowler having had considerable success against the star India batterKuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled in tandem in the nets during an optional training session on Wednesday here and the two legspinners can form a vital weapon in Indias attack given their knack of taking wickets and past record of domination in whiteball cricketWith 11 wickets in five matches Kuldeep has so far been Indias best spinner while among fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj is far ahead with 14 scalps in as many outingsThe Indians will be wary of the fact that the fivetime World Cup winners Australia have enough firepower in their ranks to pull off wins despite the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins who has decided to be with his family after the passing of her motherCummins absence will be felt by the visiting team as it also looks to finalise its preparations for the World Cup in OctoberNovember this yearLike he did in the last two matches of the Test series the wily Steve Smith will lead Australia in the ODI series as wellWhile Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are not available for this ODI series veteran batter David Warner and allrounder Ashton Agar who both had returned home during the Test series are back in India with the national squadAustralia also have not played any ODI cricket in threeandahalf months of this year with their focus being trained completely on the WTC final berthWith that objective achieved the visiting side will want to approach these three ODIs with the best possible opportunity to prepare for challenges ahead under SmithAustralia will also draw inspiration from the fact that the last time they played here they had handed India a 10wicket defeat with Warner and Aaron Finch now retired hitting unbeaten centuriesThe Teams FromIndia Hardik Pandya captain Shubman Gill Virat Kohli Shreyas Iyer Suryakumar Yadav K L Rahul Ishan Kishan wk Ravindra Jadeja Kuldeep Yadav Washington Sundar Yuzvendra Chahal Mohd Shami Mohd Siraj Umran Malik Shardul Thakur Axar Patel Jaydev UnadkatAustralia Steven Smith captain David Warner Travis Head Marnus Labuschagne Mitchell Marsh Marcus Stoinis Alex Carey Glenn Maxwell Cameron Green Josh Inglis Sean Abbott Ashton Agar Mitchell Starc Nathan Ellis Adam ZampaMatch starts 130pm ISTThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever