Having registered their first victory in five games over Australia at home by winning the second game of the three-match series in Rajkot on Friday, the Virat Kohli-led India will be eyeing to win the Sunday’s final ODI to seal the series at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss, much like the first two games, and opted to bat first after failing to chase 341 in the previous encounter. The Men in Blue, meanwhile, will be happy to chase and strolled into the ground with black armbands which caught the attention of the Bengaluru crowd.
The reason for the same is the demise of India’s former all-rounder Bapu Nadkarni. Bapu, 86, breathed his last on Friday due to age-related ailments. He was best known for bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs against England during the Chennai Test in 1964 and it is still a world record in the longest format of the game.
Even in the 1960-61 series against Pakistan, Bapu Nadkarni bowled figures of 32-24-23-0 in Kanpur, followed by 34-24-24-1 in Delhi. Team India is wearing black armbands as a mark of respect to him and his contribution to the Indian cricket.
Nadkarni played 41 Tests for India in which he scored 1414 runs at an average of 25.70 and picked 88 wickets with the help of 4 five-wicket hauls and a 10-match wicket haul.
Playing XI of both the sides for Bengaluru ODI:
Australia:
David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa.
India:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
