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Australia vs India, 3rd ODI, Fantasy Pick, team predictions

Dec 2: Australia vs India, 3rd ODI, Canberra

Pro Tip: Average score batting first at this venue in the last four games is 377. The last seven games here have been won by the team batting first and, in all those seven occasions, chasing teams have lost all their ten wickets. So load your team with players from the team that bats first.

Our XI: KL Rahul, Aaron Finch, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Hardik Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa

Substitutes: Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc, Moises Henriques

Player availability: The injured David Warner is out for the rest of the limited-overs series, and Pat Cummins has been rested too. Expect some more players to be rested as the series is already decided. We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss.

Captain: Steven Smith

Don't be surprised if Smith scores yet another 62-ball 100 in the third ODI. His last five ODIs against India have netted him 69, 98, 131, 105 and 104 are. In the three ODIs he has played in Canberra, Smith has scored 196 runs at an average of 98 and a strike rate of 122.50.

Vice-captain: Virat Kohli

Among all current players, Kohli has scored the most runs in international cricket across formats, reaching 22,000 runs in the last game. He is coming into this game after a good 89 off 87 balls. The last time he played an ODI in Canberra, he scored a 92-ball 106.

Hot Picks

Shikhar Dhawan: Dhawan has scored 104 runs in the two games and is in good form. Like his skipper, he too scored a century the last time he played here - a 113-ball 126. He can be an alternate vice-captain choice for Kohli, especially if India bat first.

Marnus Labuschagne: Labuschagne scored a 61-ball 70 in the last game and if he gets to bat a bit earlier, he is sure to make an even bigger impact. He averages 42.36 in 11 innings and has four 50-plus scores.

Aaron Finch: His opening partner Warner's absence means the onus will be on Finch to give Australia another good start with the bat. He has scored 174 runs in two games in this series, and is also the highest run-scorer at this venue, with 273 in four matches, which includes two centuries.

Differential Picks

Hardik Pandya: India's highest run-scorer in this series so far is Pandya, with 118 runs in two games. In the seven innings he has batted in against Australia, he has scored 388 runs at an average of 55.42 and a strike rate of 114.79.

Josh Hazlewood: The second-highest wicket taker of this series with five wickets at an average of 22.80, Hazlewood has also picked up five wickets in two games in Canberra. In the last year, he picked up nine wickets in nine games in powerplays, at an economy of 3.92.

Alternate Scenarios

  • If India are defending a total, go with Bumrah instead of Hazlewood.

  • If India bat first, go with Shreyas Iyer over either Maxwell or Labuschagne