NEW DELHI: Australia's captain, Pat Cummins, won the toss and decided to bat first in their opening ICC ODI World Cup match against hosts India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
The Indian team faced a setback as talented opener Shubman Gill, who was down with dengue, was unable to recover in time. Left-handed batsman Ishan Kishan has been drafted in as his replacement.
Scorecard: India vs Australia, World Cup
"Unfortunately, he (Shubman Gill) didn't recover in time, we waited until today morning and he couldn't recover. Ishan comes in to replace him, and he will open the batting," India captain Rohit Sharma said at the toss.
"The conditions are there for the bowlers, and the ball will turn as the game goes on. You need to understand what line and lengths to bowl and adjust accordingly. We played a lot of cricket before that, we played two good series before the warm-up games, we have covered all bases," Rohit added.
"We'll bat first; it looks like a good wicket. The sun is out, and it looks like a good afternoon to bat. We are in a really good spot; we have played quite a lot of cricket but we've got a good balance of giving guys game time and keeping them fresh. Travis Head is on a couch in Adelaide, Abbott, Stoinis, and Inglis miss out," Cummins said after winning the toss.
Cricket fans around the world eagerly anticipate the action-packed contest between these two cricketing giants.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa.
