India v Australia - second ODI Preview: India hopes for better fortunes against weakened hosts at Gabba

David Warner is on paternity leave to be with his wife Candice with the couple blessed with their second daughter on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mitchell Marsh has been rested by the national selectors to manage his workload with a long summer ahead. Usman Khawaja and John Hastings have joined the Aussies squad as replacements for the absentees, and the duo’s absence will provide India a much-needed fillip to level things up in the series.

On the Indian side, Dhoni’s headache will revolve around the bowling combination. Barinder Sran and Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave a good account of themselves with their performances at WACA before their teammates went for plenty in the middle overs. Whether to keep faith in the three pacer-two spinner combination or to go in with four pacers will be the discussion in the India team think tank. Ishant Sharma’s fitness will be another factor in deciding the bowling combination for the away side.

On the batting side, India looks settled after registering a creditable 309 in the first one day. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in ominous form, the Men in Blue will look to continue their excellent batting display against the inexperienced Aussie bowling.

India has played six matches at the Gabba against the World Champions, winning two and losing three. India’s famous Commonwealth Bank Series victory against Australia and Sri Lanka in 2008 also came at the same venue with the away side registering a nine-run victory in the second final to lift the title.

The pitch at the Woolloongabba tends to be a good batting track with pace and bounce for the faster bowlers. The last International match at the venue was the first Test between Australia and New Zealand in November 2015, and it produced a total of five centuries from both sides before Australia registered a 208-run victory - David Warner, who will be missing in action, had scored two of those five.

Team News

In the absence of Warner and Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh and John Hastings are in line to play the second ODI. Australia could also bring in Kane Richardson into their XI after Josh Boland had a not-so-impressive debut at the first one.

On the other hand, the only likely change in the Indian XI will depend on Ishant Sharma’s fitness after he suffered a finger injury. The spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja has cemented their place in the XI and it is unlikely to change even after their dismissal performance in the first ODI.

India’s chances of a comeback into the series will depend upon their strategy against Steve Smith, who has been a thorn in the flesh of the away side scoring centuries and centuries. With India’s batting looking good, the onus will be once again on the bowlers to produce a much better performance to turn around the away side’s fortunes in the tournament.

India XI (likely): Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Rahane, Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh/Ishant, Sran

Australia XI (likely): Shaun Marsh, Finch, Smith (c), Bailey, Maxwell, Hastings, Wade (wk), Faulkner, Paris, Boland, Hazlewood

Match timings: 8.50 am IST, 11.20 am Local

TV listings: Star Sports 1, HD 1 (English), Star Sports 3, HD3 (Hindi)

Live Streaming: Hotstar.com