CHENNAI: The last time India played a home ICC Men's ODI World Cup game, it was on an epic night in Mumbai where the then skipper MS Dhoni launched Nuwan Kulasekara into the stands of Wankhede to end the 28-year trophy drought as India lifted the World Cup. 12 years on, India will begin their quest to bring back the trophy home in Chennai as they take on Australia at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Sunday.
A capacity crowd will be eagerly looking forward to Rohit Sharma and Co to open their campaign on a winning note. Both teams have injury and health concerns and one would get to know about the final XI just before the toss. Opening batter Shubman Gill's availability continues to be in doubt as he has still not recovered from his illness.
"Everybody is fit, but Gill is not a hundred per cent. He's sick, but there is no injury concern. He's not feeling well, we are monitoring him on a daily basis. We are going to give him every chance to recover and see how he feels as he's not ruled out," said Sharma. "I feel for him, and in terms of being a human first, I want him to get well. Not thinking as the captain that I want Gill to play; I want him to get well as no one likes being sick. He's a young guy, has a fit body and he will recover quickly," added Rohit. In the event of Gill's unavailability, India will opt for Ishan Kishan to open with Rohit.
On the other hand, Australian captain Pat Cummins said his team management is keeping a close watch on the fitness of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis who has picked up a hamstring injury ahead of their World Cup match against India. Cummins said Stoinis would be put through his paces in the next few hours before taking a final call. "We'll announce the team on Sunday at the toss. Stoinis, yeah, still touch and go. He's going to have a run out soon, but probably up against it. He's got to jump through a few hoops. Yeah, we'll see," said Cummins on Saturday.
However, Cummins was not really worried as Australia had quality all-rounders in their ranks who could step in for Stoinis. "I think in one-day cricket more than any other formats you need all-rounders -- you've got to try and find 50 overs. So, we feel really blessed to have people like Cam (Cameron) Green, Mitch Marsh, and Glenn Maxwell in the side. They're like gold. It means you can bat deeper so we feel in a really good place," added Cummins.
Sharma, too, is aware of Australia's enviable record in the ICC championships. "What we have done in the past I don't think too much and we are going to play good cricket on the given day. Literally, we know how Australia play in ICC tournaments, there is a reason for they have so many championships," said Rohit. "For us, it will be very important that we stick to what we want to do as a team, focus on our strengths, and assess the conditions here," added the Mumbaikar, insisting that the Chennai pitch can be quite tricky. "We played against Australia at this very same venue in March and we were slightly behind in that game. But we knew exactly what went wrong for us. So hopefully we shouldn't repeat the mistake that we made in that game in March. But again, like I said, it's a fresh day, fresh game for both teams."
India will most likely play three spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav. And naturally, Cummins is wary of the Indian spin attack. "They're a good bowling line-up, especially in home conditions. So, they're going to be challenging. The good thing is that we've played them a lot. So, our batters will have their own plans. We've had success against them a few times. They've bowled well against us a few times as well," said Cummins. Barring the possibility of rain, Sunday promises to be a cracking contest. Both India and Australia would want to kick off their respective campaigns with a victory.