India vs Australia 2020: India's ideal XI for the 2nd ODI

Team India welcomed the new year by comprehensively winning the 3-match T20 series against Sri Lanka. They entered the 3-match ODI series against Australia high on confidence, but suffered a humiliating 10-wicket loss in the first ODI on Tuesday.

Virat Kohli's men will be looking to get back to winning ways and level the series when they face the Australian team in the second ODI on 17th January.

Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot will host the crucial second ODI of this series. Historically, the pitch at this venue has always assisted batsmen, so we can expect a high-scoring thriller on Friday.

Going into the match, Team India have plenty of selection troubles as almost all the squad members are in good form. In the previous match, the team management decided to reshuffle the batting order and as a result, Kohli had to sacrifice his number 3 spot to accommodate KL Rahul in the XI.

The experiment failed big time as India's middle-order crumbled like a pack of cards after the top order provided a decent start.

KL Rahul

Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul will again fight for the opening slot in the next match. The team management might prefer to go in with Dhawan to partner Rohit Sharma, as the duo are vastly experienced in the ODI format.

Rishabh Pant is not available to play the match, so Rahul is expected to fill in as the wicket-keeper. Skipper Kohli might return to his usual number 3 position and slot in Rahul at No. 4 as this is a must-win match.

This means that Shreyas Iyer will play at the number 5 position in the line-up. After a disappointing outing on Tuesday, Iyer will look to put up a better performance and cement his position in the XI.

Ideally, India should make three changes to their playing XI to attain a balanced team composition.

Yuzvendra Chahal

Kedar Jadhav must replace Pant, Ravindra Jadeja should be replaced by Shivam Dube, and finally, they must bring in Yuzvendra Chahal in place of Shardul Thakur. These changes will enhance the depth of both the bowling and batting departments of the team.

In this lineup, India will have experienced batsman Jadhav and power-hitter Dube as the finishers. That will also allow India to select the wrist-spin duo of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI.

Ideal XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal