India’s powerplay trio: Rohit, Shikhar & Virat

India have one of the most powerful batting units in 50-over cricket. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were the leading scorers in ODIS in 2018 — 1202 and 1030 runs respectively — and Shikhar Dhawan make it a formidable top three, in any conditions and against any bowling attack.

However, India’s tactics since the 2017 Champions Trophy have been to keep wickets in hand during the Powerplay overs and rely on lower order hitting to make big scores. Their run rate during the first 10 overs has been middling compared to their 2019 World Cup rivals. India have placed a higher emphasis on keeping their gun batsmen at the crease to bat deep and make big scores. No team has a higher batting average than India during Powerplay overs and no team has faced more balls per dismissal than them during that phase.

It points to them having a clear game plan and the required quality of players to carry it out. Only England recorded a higher win percentage in 2018 (70.80% to India’s 70%) while Australia’s languish at the bottom of that particular list (15.30%).

2018 was a horror year for Australia’s batsmen. The losses of David Warner and Steve Smith were felt as they averaged 26.50 runs per wicket, their lowest collective batting average in a year since 1997. Australia have relied on Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh for scoring – the two shared all six of Australia’s ODI hundreds in 2018. However, their poor form in the Test series led to their axing for the upcoming Sri Lanka series, and may not hit the ground running in Sydney.

Australia have rested their three premier fast bowlers, opting instead to build the seam attack around Jyhe Richardson and Billy Stanlake. The other seamers are the uncapped Jason Behrendorff and the returning India top the batting average in Powerplay since mid 2017, and though only fifth in run rate in that phase of innings, consistency underlines their superb execution of plans.