India Vs Australia ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 Predicted Playing 11: Shubman Gill And Marcus Stoinis Remain Doubtful, Ravichandran Ashwin May Play Chennai Match

Shubman Gill and Marcus Stoinis are doubtful starters for India and Australia in their opening match of the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

India captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid at a training session in Chennai. (Photo: AP)

Team India and Australia will face off against each other once again in their opening match of the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. The two sides are coming into the World Cup after a three-match ODI series against each other just a week before the World Cup started.

Both teams have injury and illness concerns on their plate ahead of their World Cup 2023 opener. For Rohit Sharma’s side the biggest concern is the possible unavailability of world No. 2 ODI batter Shubman Gill – who was also the leading run-getter for India in the three-match ODI series against Australia although he was rested from the third game. Gill is suffering from dengue over the last few days and may not be available for India’s opener.

If Gill is ruled out then Ishan Kishan is likely to open the innings with skipper Rohit Sharma. If that scenario, India may not need to choose between Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav for the middle-order batter’s slot.

The other dilemma for the Indian team will be the choice for No. 8 position between Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur. With the Chepauk track appearing slow, it’s black-coloured pitch, will tempt India to play three spinners and that’s where Ashwin has the edge over Thakur.

For Australia, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis remains an injury concern with Cameron Green likely to replace him in the line-up for the opening game. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa also suffered a freak injury on his nose while swimming in the team hotel on the eve of the match. Apart from that Alex Carey is likely to hold on to the wicketkeeper’s position at least for the first game ahead of Josh Inglis.

“We’ll announce a team tomorrow at the toss. Stoinis, yeah, still touch and go. He’s going to have a run out this afternoon, but probably up against it, he’s got to jump through a few hoops. So, yeah, we’ll see,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said on the eve of the match in Chennai.

As the #MenInBlue embark on their #CWC23 journey, may the words of a billion Indians ring true: We believe in you!#TeamIndia, ab jeet tere haath mein! _

Tune-in to #INDvAUS in #WorldCupOnStar
SUN, OCT 8, 12:30 PM onwards | Star Sports Network#GreatestGlory #Cricket pic.twitter.com/nAmzxGRLfA

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 7, 2023

India vs Australia ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 Match No. 5 Predicted 11

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill/Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer/Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Australia: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (c), Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa