India opt to bat against Australia in 3rd ODI, Natarajan makes debut

Canberra, Dec. 2 (IANS): India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday won the toss and elected to bat in the third and final ODI against Australia to be played at the Manuka Oval.

Left-arm pacer T Natarajan is making his international debut for India and he replaces Mohammed Shami. Besides that, India have made three other changes — Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav have replaced Mayank Agarwal, Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal in the playing XI.

“We will bat first. It looks a nice wicket and the last time we played here it was a really good wicket to bat on. We want to bat well and put the opposition under pressure. We need to improve the body language and the bowling as well,” Kohli said.

“It’s a result of us not being consistent in the last two games, we are going to try a few things tonight and see how it goes,” he added.

Australia, on the other hand, have also made three changes to their line-up which last featured in Sydney. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and David Warner are not part of the playing XI and have been replaced by Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar and debutant Cameron Green.

“We got three changes. Starc got a back and rib niggle and the medical team informed us that he will greatly benefit by resting, and obviously Davey (David Warner) and Pat Cummins not playing today. Green is making his debut, Sean Abbott and Ashton Agar come in too,” informed Australia skipper Aaron Finch.

“Marnus (Labuschagne) will be opening for us. No such thing as a dead-rubber and we will be doing everything we can to try and win the game,” he added.

Australia have already sealed the series, having won the first two ODIs by 66 and 51 runs respectively at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Playing XIs

India: Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, T Natarajan

Australia: Aaron Finch(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey(w), Cameron Green, Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood