Match Betting
India are 8/11 with Totesport
Australia are 5/4 with Sportingbet
A Tied Match is
Australia’s injury woes don’t get any better as Brett Lee has now had to return home as well as the injured Tim Paine, wicketkeeper Paine has already been replaced in the squad by Graham Manou.
Shaun Marsh will probably move up the order and open the innings in Paine’s absence while Mitchell Johnson is expected to play even though he is still carrying a knee injury, James Hopes is still doubtful due to injury.
Australia’s bowling has been a cause for concern with India’s batsmen taking a liking to Shane Watson so far in this series, Ben Hilfenhaus also had a match to forget in Nagpur, his 10 overs went for 83 with just 1 wicket.
India don’t have too much to worry about, it will just be a case of trying to keep the momentum going for them. Yuvraj now has a game under his belt and although MS Dhoni stole all the headlines on Wednesday the form of Gautam Gambhir at number 3 with scores of 68 & 76 will make great reading for the Indians.
Ishant Sharma seems to have regained his confidence and form also with the ball. The only negative is no big contribution from Sachin Tendulkar who has only managed scores of 14 & 4 so far.
Possible Teams
India – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra
Australia – Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting (C), Michael Hussey, Adam Voges, Cameron White, Graham Manou (WK), Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Peter Siddle.
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Australia won the toss and decided to bat. In come Graham Manou and Moises Henriques for their debuts, replacing the injured Tim Paine and Shaun Marsh, Doug Bollinger has replaced Ben Hilfenhaus in the bowling department.
Ricky Ponting moved up the order to fill the openers berth vacated by Paine, suggesting Marsh still has a bit to do to convince the tour management he is worth a place.