Indian cricket team are all set to take on England in the first of three ODI matches which will be played in Nagpur. The game on Thursday follows a frenetic T20I series which the hosts won with a 4-1 margin. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the team as the veteran batting duo look to recapture their form with the bat.
Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the series due to the injury he suffered in the Sydney Test match during BGT 2024/25. This is a huge blow for India considering that the Champions Trophy 2025 is just two weeks away. Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh will fill in the roles of senior pacers in the team.
Nagpur has hosted nine ODI matches in total with the average first innings total being 288. Teams batting second have won the match six times with India’s 354/7 during the 2013 ODI match against Australia being the highest. The last time India took on Australia at this venue was in 2019 and a Virat Kohli special helped the hosts win the match.
Virat Kohli's ton helps India win a close match
Team India batted first and lost Rohit Sharma for a duck to Pat Cummins in the final ball of the first over. Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli then added 38 runs for the second wicket before Dhawan was out LBW to Glenn Maxwell for 21. Nathan Lyon then got the wicket of Ambati Rayudu for 18 to leave India at 75/3 in the 17th over.
Vijay Shankar joined skipper Kohli to add 81 runs for the fourth wicket before he lost his wicket for 46. Adam Zampa struck two huge blows when he dismissed Kedar Jadhav for 11 and former skipper MS Dhoni for a golden duck. Kohli and Jadeja joined forces to add 67 runs for the seventh wicket as Jadeja scored 21 runs. Virat Kohli was India’s best batter with 116 off 120 balls before falling to Pat Cummins as India were all out for 250.
Chasing 251 to win, Australia got off to a fast start with Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja adding 83 for the first wicket. Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav dismissed both the set batters in a space of six balls. Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis then kept the hosts at boy with knocks of 46 and 52 runs each. India’s bowler came out on top as Bumrah along with Kuldeep Yadav and Vijay Shankar bowled out the visitors for 242 to help India win by eight runs.