India eye perfect finish to historic tour

Buoyant and selfassured in equal measure India would be eyeing a maiden bilateral ODI series triumph on Australian soil after the pathbreaking Test conquest when they take on the home team in the tour finale here FridayThe threematch series is level at 11 after Australia won the first ODI in Sydney by 34 runs and India won the second in Adelaide by six wickets The Men in Blue have never won a bilateral ODI contest on Australian soil and their only two series wins in this format have come in 1985 World Championship of Cricket and 2008 CB SeriesIn fact this is only the second bilateral ODI series India have played in Australia losing 41 in 2016 when they toured here last Also by winning this third ODI in Melbourne India will finish the current 201819 tour without having lost a series here They have previously drawn the T20I series 11 and then went on to record a historic firstever Test series win here by a 21 marginWhile India will take winning momentum into this third ODI their only worry at the moment is the fifth bowling option So far in the series senior pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami have been impressive while the two leftarm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have provided control and breakthroughs in the middle oversIn the absence of Hardik Pandya India have used a fulltime seamer as their fifth bowling option both at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Adelaide Oval Khaleel Ahmed 055 and Mohammed Siraj 076 though failed to impress in their singular outingsIt becomes a particularly crucial aspect considering that India will go in with the same batting lineup as in the first two matches With Virat Kohli not keen on bowling Ambati Rayudu again in the series they need to get their fivebowler attack right on the money Seam bowling allrounder Vijay Shankar and leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal are in contention and both had a rigorous workout during the optional training session on Thursday at the MCGShankar provides the third seam bowling option and as an extra batsman elongates the batting lineup However the argument against Shankar is whether the Indian team management can trust him enough to deliver 10 overs on ODI debut Siraj struggled to do so and Kohli was left wondering how he would bowl him for a last threeover spell This is where Chahal might prove to be a more reliable option even if India have to play two pacers and three spinnersThe bigger boundaries at the MCG and Chahals ability to bowl economical and attacking spells as well as use the new ball within the first 10 overs might be a factor in his favourIf Kohli does pick Shankar for his ODI debut it would disturb the set batting lineup and make space for Kedar Jadhav The fifth bowlers 10 overs can then be divided between Jadhav and Shankar This move would mean one of Ambati Rayudu or Dinesh Karthik will be left out Karthik was handy in finishing the second ODI while Rayudu has been rusty but seen as Indias favoured number four option making this a tough decision for the Indian captainRayudu was part of the small group that took part in optional training on Thursday along with Shankar Chahal Jadhav Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan Dhonis form which has been a constant concern for a while now has been decent so far and he has two consecutive half centuries to draw confidence fromAustralia on the other hand have one selection worry due to pacer Jason Behrendorffs sore back Billy Stanlake is expected to come into the playing eleven for a straight swap as spelled out by skipper Aaron FinchThe hosts will be worried about lack of runs from their opening duo Finch and Alex Carey with their middleorder having to do the bull work in the last two matchesAustralia have won nine out of the 14 ODIs played against India at the MCG and it should inspire them on Friday as they are still on the cusp of winning their first ODI series since January 2017TeamsIndia Virat Kohli c Rohit Sharma Shikhar Dhawan Ambati Rayudu Dinesh Karthik Kedar Jadhav MS Dhoni wk Kuldeep Yadav Yuzvendra Chahal Ravindra Jadeja Bhuvneshwar Kumar Khaleel Ahmed Mohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj Vijay ShankarAustralia aron Finch c Jason Behrendorff Alex Carey wk Peter Handscomb Usman Khawaja Nathan Lyon Mitch Marsh Shaun Marsh Glenn Maxwell Jhye Richardson Peter Siddle Billy Stanlake Marcus Stoinis Ashton Turner Adam ZampaMatch starts at 750am ISTCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever