Three-pronged spin 'definitely an option' for India

Australia could face a spin bowling onslaught in their World Cup opener with India contemplating unleashing a three-pronged spin attack against the five-time champions in Chennai.

India captain Rohit Sharma said playing Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in the same XI was "definitely an option" with the MA Chidambaram Stadium surface traditionally suited the slower bowlers.

Not that it has worried Australia in the past with Chennai the venue where they have enjoyed the highest percentage of success in one-day internationals in the subcontinent nation with five wins from six matches, including a 21-run win at the coastal stadium in March this year.

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.

Such was Ashwin's threat that David Warner resorted to batting right-handed in the second ODI in Indore before he was dismissed lbw trying to reverse sweep the off-spinner with his opposite hand.

"That's the luxury we have where we can afford to play three spinners," Rohit said on the eve of the two sides' first match of the 2023 World Cup.

"I don't really consider Hardik Pandya as just a seamer, he is a proper fast bowler who can crank up good speed so that gives us an advantage of playing three spinners and three seamers as well.

"So there's a possibility that we can play three spinners on this pitch … it gives us that balance and gives us that number eight batting option as well.

"We will have to come here again tomorrow afternoon and see what the pitch looks like but three spinners is definitely an option."

Should India choose to go with Pandya at No.6, followed by Jadeja, Ashwin and Kuldeep at seven, eight and nine, they would face a tough call on which fast bowler to leave out with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj both impressing recently, and superstar speedster Jasprit Bumrah fit again after missing 11 months with a back injury.

Shami claimed five wickets against Australia in the first ODI in Mohali last month while Siraj bowled India to victory in the Asia Cup final with a sensational spell of 6-21 to roll Sri Lanka for 50.

But Rohit said Indian conditions would not be the deciding factor in this year's World Cup due to the amount of cricket players from each nation had played in the country through bilateral international series and the Indian Premier League.

"In terms of the alien conditions, I don't think it's there anymore," he said.

"You just have to play good cricket and it is the same anywhere you go now, all teams are playing so much cricket everywhere around the world.

"We played against Australia in this very same venue in March and we were slightly behind in that game. But we knew exactly what went wrong for us so hopefully we shouldn't repeat that mistake that we made in that game in March."

India will be sweating on the fitness of Shubman Gill who has been unwell for the past week, but Rohit maintained he still hadn't been ruled out of their opening match.

The star opener is the world's leading run-scorer in ODIs in 2023 with 1230 at 72.35 and pummelled Australia for 74 and 104 the first two ODIs last month before resting from the third.

"Gill is not 100 per cent," Rohit said. "We are monitoring him on a daily basis so we're going to give him every chance to recover and see how he feels."

Australia have their own fitness concerns with Pat Cummins revealing Marcus Stoinis still was "up against it" to overcome a hamstring injury and Travis Head still at home in Adelaide recovering from a fractured hand.