Australia captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first One-Day International at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Saturday.
Harbhajan Singh was left out of the Indian line-up because of an injury he sustained during the nets on Friday evening. It is reported that he is suffering from a neck strain. He spent a few minutes in the nets on Saturday before returning to the dressing room
India included four fast bowlers in Zaheer Khan, R P Singh, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan. Mumbai off-spinner Ramesh Powar is the lone spinner in the team.
Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa, who were part of the Twenty20 World Cup-winning team were also benched, as the experienced trio of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly made their way back to the team.
For Australia, regular captain Ricky Ponting missed the match after failing to recover from a hamstring injury he suffered during the Twenty20 World Cup.
The match, the first of the seven-match ODI series, in many ways, will be a clash of champions. India recently won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, while, earlier in the year, Australia won the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies.
The game will also see the International Cricket Council's experimental changes, with regard to field placements, free hit and ball changes, come into effect for the first time.
The free-hit rule, which was used at the Twenty20 World Cup, will now be tried in the 50-overs format too. The free hit will only come into effect for foot fault that is either overstepping the bowling crease either off the front foot or back foot.
There will be no free hit for a high full toss no-ball, for a second bouncer in an over, or for any violation of field restrictions that also invites a no-ball sanction.
With regard to the Powerplay, an extra fielder will be allowed outside the fielding circle for the second and third blocks.
The ICC has also made it mandatory that, irrespective of the condition of the ball, it will be changed at the completion of the 34th over of each innings. The umpires can, however, change the ball earlier if there is discolouration or any other problem, but after 34 overs, the ball must be compulsorily changed even if it is fit to continue with.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Ramesh Powar.
Australia: Adam Gilchrist (captain), Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Brad Hodge, Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, James Hopes.