Chennai, Oct 4: Ahead of the marquee clash, the Indian and Australian cricket teams landed in Chennai on Wednesday for their first match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to be played at the historic M.A.Chidambaram Stadium on October 8, Sunday.
Both the teams were escorted to their hotels amid tight security with armed police in attendance. The teams were expected to have a hit at the nets and have practice sessions at the Chepauk stadium–which had been given a mssive facelift for the biggest cricketing event–from tomorrow.
Buoyed by its 2-1 win over Aussies in the recent three-march ODI series and with the top order batsmen in sublime form, India will be high on confidence when skipper Rohit Sharma walks for the toss on Sunday.
Among the Indian cricketers spotted were Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumah, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, who was drafted into the team at the last minute following an injury to left arm spinner Axar Patel.
Aussie opener David Warner, Chennai’s son-in-law, Glenn Maxwell Marcus Stoinis were also seen at the airport.
Though the 22-yard strip at Chepauk usually assist the spinners, it remains to be seen the quality of the wicket that would be rolled out for this high-octane contest between the two formdiable teams.
Chennai has also witnessed some high scoring ODIs in the past. Both the teams are expected to finalise their plyaing XI after having a good look at the pitch.
It it tends to assist the slow bowlers as seen in recent past, India will be fancying itself of fielding all the three spinners in its pipe-opener on Thursday. With the tickets having already sold out, a full house was expected on Sunday at the stadium, which has been completely renovated and is expected to accommodate more than 35,000 spectators.
In March this year, the Pavilion Stand and the Madras Cricket Club (MCC) stand were demolished and reconstructed at a cost of nearly Rs 90 crores and they were inaugurated by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin. With the opening of the two new stands and the refurbished I,J & K, stands, which was closed for a few years due to legal wrangles and re-opened after two years, the historic stadium now sports a swanky look.Mr Stalin also named a gallery in the stadium after former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, an avid fan of cricket.
Following are the teams :
India :
Rohit Sharma (Capt), Hardik Pandya (Vice Capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli,
Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah,
Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Sami, Kuldeep Yadav, R.Ashwin, Ishan Kishan,
Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia :
Pat Cummins (Capt), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott,
Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne,
Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam
Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
