India vs Australia | Australia confirms playing XI for series opener against India

The Australian cricket team will be gunning to go up against India in order to avenge their embarrassing defeat in the recently-concluded Test series on home soil. The home team will field a makeshift XI in the absence of pace trio, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins who were rested for the three-match ODI series against Virat Kohli & Co. which is scheduled to start on January 12.

Veteran pacer Peter Siddle has been included in the starting XI after having last played for the national team back in November 2010 against Sri Lanka. The Victoria native admitted that he never thought he’d get to play for the Australian team again and could not wait to go out on the pitch and compete.

“With those World Cup spots up for grabs for a lot of people, you definitely see the best come of a lot of blokes. You are playing against one of the best one-day teams in the world.

“We may not be at full strength, missing a few players we’d probably like to have for the World Cup, but at the same time it’s opportunities. I never thought i’d get the opportunity to play one-day cricket for Australia again. I’d probably forgotten about it really ... I feel like a young kid getting his first opportunity,” Siddle told FoxSports.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Aaron Finch announced a new-look ODI team as he revealed that youngster Alex Carey will open the innings alongside him. Usman Khawaja, who was involved in the Test series against India, will also make his return to the limited-overs format for the series opener against the visitors which is set to be played at the SCG on Saturday.

Australian XI: Alex Carey, Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson.