After a gap of more than seven months, the Indian men's side are set to play ODI cricket. A lot has changed in these seven months across formats but most importantly, they now have a new captain in 50-over cricket.
Shubman Gill's first-ever assignment as India captain came during the Test series in England. His maiden captaincy series in ODIs will also be an overseas assignment and that too in Australia. The world champions haven't been in the best form recently, having lost the ODI series at home to South Africa.
Australia
Overall, Australia's ODI form has been a mixed bag since their ODI World Cup win in 2023. Also, they will be without a few key players for the opening game of the series. Josh Inglis is still recovering from his calf-strain and will miss the opening ODI while Alex Carey is unavailable due to his Sheffield Shield game clashing with this fixture.
Josh Philippe is the replacement for this game and this will be his first ODI in four years while Mitchell Owen and Matt Renshaw are likely to make their ODI debuts. Skipper Mitchell Marsh will have a largely rookie squad to deal with for the first game with Adam Zampa also absent due to family commitments.
With India's top-six all being right-handers, left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann's selection seems a foregone conclusion, especially with the lack of other specialist spin options in the squad for this fixture. Zampa's absence will be felt but Kuhnemann has been in good form in domestic white-ball cricket.
India
For India, there won't be too many unexpected selections. Skipper Gill will continue to open the batting with his predecessor Rohit Sharma while Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are a lock-in for the other spots in the top four. KL Rahul as the wicket-keeper batter takes the no.5 spot and it is for the next two positions that India will need to think.
Hardik Pandya is out of the entire tour with injury and with Ravindra Jadeja not picked for the ODIs, it is an opportunity for Nitish Reddy to stake his claims in white-ball cricket. The Andhra batter is likely to bat at no.6 with a decision to be made between Axar Patel and Washington Sundar for the no.7 spot.
Axar seems to be in a better position to take that slot but Australia will have three left-handers in their top six, meaning that Sundar's case could also be a strong one. However, how much of this will be relevant at Perth is another question. What they do need at Perth is pace and hit-the-deck options.
The under-fire Harshit Rana should slot due to his bowling style and batting ability while Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav are mandatory selections. Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna will battle for the other seamer's spot with the Punjab seamer in pole position due to the left-arm variety that he offers.
Where to watch?
The Australia-India ODIs will be telecast on the Star Sports Network and streamed on JioHotstar app/website.
Pitch report
The Perth Stadium has witnessed six ODIs so far with chasing sides winning five out of the six games. Average score batting first is only 172, hinting at the sporting nature of the surface. Pacers have generally relished the pitches in Perth due to the extra pace and bounce.
Probable XIs
Australia Probable XI: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Matt Short, Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann
India Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), Nitish Reddy, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh