On Wednesday, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India and Australia will compete in the final ODI of their three-match series, with the series currently tied at 1-1. Both teams will be vying for a victory to secure the series. Earlier in the Australia Tour of India, the hosts won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1. Unfortunately, as with the second ODI, rain is expected to once again disrupt the final fixture, leaving everyone in suspense.
Trailing 0-1, Australia put in a better fight in the second ODI, to win the match by 10 wickets in Visakhapatnam. The Aussies were in hot form and successfully chased down a target of 118 runs with ease, reaching 121/0 in 11 overs. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head dominated the Indian bowlers with unbeaten half-centuries. Earlier, India were bowled out for 117 in 26 overs, with Virat Kohli registering 31 runs off 35 deliveries. Marsh built on his performance from the previous ODI and took a fifer for Australia. Meanwhile, Sean Abbott bagged three wickets and Nathan Ellis took two.
With the third ODI scheduled for 1:30 PM IST, the weather is expected to be around 33 degrees Celsius. It will be mostly sunny, according to Accuweather, and also very humit, but there could be a thunderstorm in some spots of Chennai. Meanwhile, evening onwards, it is expected to be around 27 degrees Celsius, with clear sky, high humidity and no chances of rain.
Both sides are also expected to experiment with their playing XIs, with the 50-over World Cup in sight. We could see some players, who didn’t feature in the first two ODIs, be included in the playing XIs for the final ODI.
