Injuries hit Oz, Indian camp fit!

If anything worst the Oz camp had to expect, it was this. Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and James Hopes all are down with injuries. While Brett Lee and James Hopes have been ruled out of the second one-dayer, Mitchell Johnson is still a hope for Australians. As a replacement, New South Wales’ all-rounder, Moises Henriques has been called as the standby player until the fourth match. He will join the team on Thursday in Delhi for the third game. On the other hand, the only injured Indian player until the 1st match, Yuvraj Singh, is fit and is almost certain to play the game.

Australians, now, are looking to find the perfect combination to go with. Absence of Brett and Hopes means a hole inside the bowling line-up. With four options for two players, assuming Johnson fit, Australia will most probably play Shaun Marsh and either of Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus, implying the rookie Jon Holland to warm the bench. Further, if even Johnson misses out, then both Bollinger and Hilfenhaus will play, just because of a certain international experience.

For India, things look good but not so good. Yuvraj Singh will return and either Virat Kohli or Ravindra Jadeja, will have to make a way for him. But as Jadeja’s poor form with the bat and Kohli’s ok run with the bat, Kohli will certainly get to play. As far as bowling is concerned, Nehra and Ishant will definitely retain their places alongside Harbhajan. The axe might just fall on Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel can make a way into the XI. But again, no matter Praveen shelled away 77 in his 10 overs, he was too good a bowler in the first spell with most runs coming off edges. And given the fact India bats first, Praveen can be a handy deal to bowl under lights. An outside possibility: Amit Mishra can come into the side and replace Kohli (if Yuvraj replaced Jadeja) or vice-versa. This could only happen if MSD wants to play 5 bowlers and also Yuvraj’s entry strengthens the batting and 5 bowlers then are tolerable.

As far as the pitch is concerned, this is once again a typical Indian pitch with assistance to the batsmen. It can get slow as game progresses and hence the team winning the toss will certainly opt for bat. But, if dew comes into play, the side batting first can have problems with their bowling and then side batting second gets an advantage. The weather forecast is a pleasant one, with the temperatures ranging between 15 ºC and 33 ºC with chances of no rain.