Australia a contender for victory in the series against India before the World Cup: Raina – Dainik Savera Times
Mumbai: Former batsman Suresh Raina believes that Australia will dominate the three-match ODI series against India before the World Cup because of the flexibility in their batting and the players of this team have a good understanding of the Indian conditions. India will face hosts Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final on Sunday. The team will then take part in a three-match home ODI series against Australia before starting their World Cup campaign.
This series will start in Mohali on 22nd September. After this, matches will be played in Indore (24 September) and Rajkot (27 September). Both the teams will face each other in the World Cup on October 8 in Chennai. Raina told ‘Geo Cinema’, “They (Australia) have a good combination of right and left hands in the batting order. Indore’s ground is very small, and Rajkot’s pitch is flat.
Also, Australia has played a lot in Mohali and hence I believe they will have more chances to win. Raina said, “Even the target of 340-350 runs will not be much difficult to chase in these small grounds. To defend any target, the Indian team will have to field a very strong bowling unit.
The 2011 World Cup winner said that winning the series 3-0 or losing by the same margin will not make much difference but this tournament will give the teams an opportunity to prepare their combinations for the upcoming World Cup. Raina expressed hope that Rohit Sharma will score the most runs in this series while Josh Hazlewood will be the most successful bowler.
He said, “I believe that Rohit Sharma will score the most runs in this series. Josh Hazlewood will be Australia’s best bowler in terms of wickets. Mohammed Shami or Kuldeep Yadav can be the most successful bowler for India. Raina said that fast bowler Shardul Thakur can prove to be the ‘X factor’ (trump ace) for the Indian team. Shardul has the ability to ‘mimic’ the ball like Zaheer Khan.
He said, “Shardul needs to bowl the same way Zaheer Khan did with his knuckle ball in the 2011 World Cup. In that World Cup, Yuvraj Singh was adjudged the best player of the tournament while Dhoni changed the course of the match by moving up his batting order in the final. I believe that Shardul Thakur will be the X-factor in this World Cup.
