India vs Australia 2017: India's predicted playing XI for third ODI

Kuldeep's hat-trick was one of the stars of India's 2nd ODI win

There hasn’t been as much excitement for a spinner recently as there has been for Kuldeep Yadav, who has turned heads with his sharply turning deliveries, most recently with a hat-trick, only the third ever in ODIs by an Indian. Bowling a brand of spin that is rare, Kuldeep has made the return path of once first-choices Ashwin and Jadeja a fairly difficult one.

Complementing Yadav’s chinaman bowling is Yuzvendra Chahal’s canny leg-breaks: the Haryana boy doesn’t shy away from giving the delivery some nice air, tossing it up with the intention of extracting a false stroke from the batsman. Along with Yadav, Chahal yanked the heart out of the Australian chase by making regular incisions in their middle order, helping widen the gap between India’s total and Australia’s target.

With Bhuvneshwar Kumar handling the role of the fast bowling spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah might have been pushed to the sidelines, but he has been more than playing his part, even though the wickets column might not be saying it out loud. With the new ball, he is accurate, giving the batsmen hardly anything to play with. He transforms into a wily customer at the death, sending down a barrage of variations that can fox even the best.