3rd ODI: Australia Skipper Steve Smith Opts to Bat against Unchanged India in Series Decider

Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the third and final ODI at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

The series is currently tied at 1-1, making this game a decider. The last time India lost a bilateral ODI series at home was back in 2019, co-incidentally to Australia.

After winning the toss, Smith said veteran left-handed opener David Warner comes back in the playing eleven along with left-arm spinner Ashton Agar. Pacer Nathan Ellis and an unwell Cameron Green make way for Warner and Agar to be included in the playing eleven.

“Looks like quite a dry surface, it is pretty hot out here. Will look to put a good total on this surface. We have had good fun and it will be exciting in the decider. We love playing in crunch games and it’s exciting,” he said.

India captain Rohit Sharma said the playing eleven is unchanged and added that he wanted to field first on a dry pitch which has an even covering of grass.

“It’s an important game and the deciders are always interesting. It’s always good to put us in this situation. It’s a challenge for us to come back and play some good cricket under pressure,” Rohit said.

“Hopefully we can put our best foot forward. Australia are a good team and you can always test your depth. We were thinking of playing with four seamers but the conditions here are suitable for the spinners, so we go with three spinners,” he added.

Playing XIs:

India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa