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Australia elect to bat in final ODI vs India

October 17, 2007 14:28 IST

Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat in the seventh and final one-day international at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The world champions, having already sealed the series 4-1, fielded an unchanged side after opener Matthew Hayden failed to recover fully from his hip injury.

As expected, India rested Rahul Dravid and brought Dinesh Karthik in his place. Dravid has struggled for runs in the series, having scored just 51 runs in the five innings so far.

• Column: Shut up, Sree!

Left-armer Rudra Pratap Singh was the other change for India, replacing the erratic S Sreesanth.

The Wankhede pitch is expected to be full of runs and Australia would be keen to post a total around the 300-mark once again.

Curator Sudhir Naik believes the pitch has a bit of bounce and stroke-makers would enjoy batting on this track.

It will be a special occasion for Sachin Tendulkar, who could be featuring for the last time in front of his home fans. After this match, the Wankhede stadium will undergo an extensive renovation and the next match to be played here will be during the 2011 World Cup.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Brett Lee.

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