Australia vs. India World Cup Warm-Up: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview
Australia and India meet in Adelaide on Sunday, in what is the first of two warm-up matches for each side ahead of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Date: Sunday, Feb. 8
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Start Time: 3:30 a.m. GMT/2 p.m. local
World Cup Broadcasters: ATN and Lemar TV (Afghanistan), Nine Network and Fox Sports (Australia), Super Sport (South Africa), BTV (Bangladesh), CMC (Caribbean), Asian TV Network (Canada), Eurosport (Europe), Sky Sports (United Kingdom and Ireland), DD Sports and Star Sports (India, Nepal and Sri Lanka), Sky Sport (New Zealand), PTV Sports (Pakistan), ESPN (United States)
Live Stream: N/A
Weather: The Weather Channel is forecasting a hot and sunny day in the South Australian capital, with the temperature set to reach 33 degrees Celsius during the afternoon.
Overview
One team in red-hot form. One team in turmoil.
For Australia and India right now, things couldn't be more different.
After an emphatic triumph over India and England in the recent triangular series, Australia enter the final stages of their World Cup preparations full of confidence and eager to tackle their major rivals.
India, meanwhile, are still picking up the pieces of their dreadful time in the tri-series (winless in three completed matches) and now must deal with the news that bowling duo Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are extremely doubtful for the World Cup due to injury, according to The Times of India.
Of course, Australia have injury concerns of their own, with Michael Clarke and James Faulkner trying to overcome a hamstring complaint and a side strain, respectively.
But India's situation feels more dire, given their extremely poor form throughout their tour of Australia and the lack of clarity regarding their best XI.
In that sense, this warm-up match arrives at an opportune time for MS Dhoni's men, with the flexible rules of the unofficial one-day game allowing teams to experiment with their lineups.
As noted by the ICC's official website:
"It should be noted that warm-up matches are not official ODIs and operate under slightly different rules with up to 15 players able to be used throughout the game with no more than 11 players may field at any one time.
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For India, the scramble is on to identify the right combination of players who can ignite their World Cup defence.
Squads
Australia
Michael Clarke (c), George Bailey (vc), Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson
India
MS Dhoni (c/wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Dhawal Kulkarni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Akshar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ishant Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav
Form Lines (most recent first)
Australia - WWWWWW
India - LLLWWW
Players to Watch
Australia
Australia are in a delicate position leadership-wise at present. When Clarke missed the last three Tests against India, Steven Smith stepped in. But with Clarke still missing, George Bailey has led the Australians in the one-day arena, which has made for an awkward situation.
Clarke, Smith and Bailey are extremely unlikely to be selected in the same XI when the nation's leader returns. It means one has to miss out, and that could very easily be Bailey, given his poor form with the bat in recent weeks.
Yet that would mean the Tasmanian would go from leading his country to losing his place in the side altogether—hardly the scenario Australia's selectors would want.
This warm-up game, therefore, is extremely important for Bailey, who rapidly needs to find some form with the bat if he's to remain in contention when Clarke inevitably returns.
India
In every disaster, there's opportunity. And that's what India's injury crisis means for Mohit Sharma.
With both Ishant and Kumar looking doubtful for the World Cup, the right-armer has the chance to establish himself in Dhoni's best XI with strong performances in these warm-up games.
When given his only chance in India's final match of the recent tri-series in Perth, Mohit was impressive in claiming figures of 2/36 from his 10 overs.
More of the same in this clash would likely see the 26-year-old line up in his nation's World Cup opener.
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