Labuschagne, Green make Cup debuts as Aussies bat first

Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne will make their 50-over World Cup debuts with Australia batting first in their blockbuster tournament opener against hosts' India in Chennai.

Green has been given the nod over fellow West Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis who has been recovering from a hamstring complaint he picked up in the first ODI against India last month.

In a huge blow for India, star opener Shubman Gill has been ruled out of the match, failing to recover from illness in time, with Ishan Kishan taking his place at the top of the order alongside captain Rohit Sharma.

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

 

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

Australia skipper Pat Cummins had no hesitation in electing to bat on a hot and steamy afternoon at MA Chidambaram Stadium where the humidity is forecast to rise to 90 per cent later this evening.

The venue – which is expected to offer assistance to the spinners – has been a happy hunting ground in one-day internationals for Australia with five wins from six matches, including a 21-run victory over India in March this year.

Labuschagne secured his spot at No.4 on the back of a transformative month of one-day batting that saw him post a match-winning 80 not out as a concussion substitute followed by a century in South Africa in his first two matches after being dropped from the side.

With the addition of Green, Australia head into the 50-over showpiece with the same bowling attack that secured their maiden T20 World Cup crown in the UAE in 2021.

Mitchell Starc – the leading wicket-taker in the last two ODI World Cups – leads the pace bowling attack alongside skipper Cummins and Hazlewood with support from allrounders Green and Mitch Marsh.

Australia will lean heavily on Glenn Maxwell's off-spin to support Adam Zampa, who is the format's most prolific bowler over the past four years from the nations that qualified for this year's tournament.

"It looks like a good wicket, the sun's out and it looks like a good afternoon to bat," Cummins said at the toss.

"We're in a really good spot, we've played quite a lot over the last month or so, but it feels like we've got the good balance between getting lots of game time into the guys but still feeling fresh."

Rohit added: "We know the conditions out there are slightly on the slower side for the bowlers, it will turn as the game goes on.

"We played a lot of cricket, we played two good series just before the warm-up games so in terms of preparation we are ready, we've covered all our bases.

"Unfortunately, Gill didn't recover in time, we waited until this morning but unfortunately he didn't and Ishan will replace him."

India will throw up to 30 overs of spin at the Australians with Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav all given the nod.

Ashwin was a late addition to the hosts' 15-player World Cup squad following a quad injury to Axar Patel in the Asia Cup but impressed with four wickets against Australia in the first two ODIs last month having not played for India in the 50-over format since January 2022.

Gill – the world's leading run-scorer in ODIs in 2023 with 1230 at 72.35 – is a huge loss for the hosts after belting Australia for 74 and 104 in last month's series.

But Kishan has also been in good touch with an 82 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup last month in a run of four straight half-centuries in the format.

Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures

Warm-up match: No result v Netherlands

Warm-up match: Defeated Pakistan by 14 runs

October 8: v India, Chennai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 12: v South Africa, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT

November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT

November 15: First semi-final, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 16: Second semi-final, Kolkata (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 19: Final, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa