Aus opt to bat; Virat replaces Yuvraj

The seven match ODI series between India and Australia gets underway in Vadodara with the visitors winning the toss and electing to bat first.

It wasn’t a surprising decision by Ricky Ponting as the pitch looks to be a batsman’s paradise. The ball is expected to come nicely on to the bat off the hard and firm surface with some minor hair-line cracks on it. The Vadodara track is expected to offer turn to the slower bowlers later during the course of the game.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, though was of the view that the stickiness on the wicket might help the bowlers initially and that he was happy to have a bowl first.

In the Indian camp, Yuvraj Singh misses out as he is not match fit while Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra and Sudeep Tyagi have to wait for their turn in the series.

Australia field a pretty much expected side with three fast bowlers in Lee, Johnson and Siddle while Nathan Hauritz will take care of the spinning department.

Teams:

India: SR Tendulkar, V Sehwag, G Gambhir, SK Raina, MS Dhoni*†, V Kohli, RA Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, A Nehra, P Kumar, I Sharma

Australia: SR Watson, TD Paine†, RT Ponting*, MEK Hussey, AC Voges, CL White, JR Hopes, MG Johnson, B Lee, NM Hauritz, PM Siddle