India would expect their top-order batsmen to make amends for a rare poor show in the series-opener and hope that the spinners continue to torment Australia when the two teams clash in the second One-Dayer, here on Thursday.
The Australians are struggling against India's new spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal and the hosts would like to ensure that it doesn't get any easy as the series progresses. Yadav is proving to be a mystery for the Aussies, who have also struggled to pick Chahal's sliders. The visitors were seen taking the help of local wrist spinners to find tricks to counter the Indian bowlers.
While Kerala's KK Jiyas helped them before the Chennai ODI, two local club bowlers — Ashutosh Shibram and Rupak Guha — provided some practice to the Aussie batsmen, here.
Chasing a revised target of 164 in 21 overs in the rain-interrupted first ODI, Aussies were 35 for four before Glenn Maxwell's power-hitting raised hopes of an unlikely win.
But Chahal and Yadav went about their task meticulously to seal a 26-run win by the Duckworth-lewis method.
The Aussies have a bigger threat to contend with in Hardik Pandya who steered India to a respectable 281 for seven from a precarious 76/6.
Pandya hit another hat-trick of sixes — four times in International cricket — smashed 83 from 66 balls in a match-turning 118-run partnership with MS Dhoni (79 from 88).
Pandya's rise since IPl-2015 has been remarkable. From being a careless hitter to restraining his shots in the V, Pandya has matured as a player.
He has also emerged as the utility medium-pace all-rounder that India have been searching for long.
It remains to be seen how the Australian spin resources challenge the formidable Indian batting line up. The visitors have three part-time tweakers in Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head and Ashton Agar.
It is also a challenging time for skipper Steve Smith, who needs to lead from the front. David Warner also must fire to set the foundation.
looking at Hilton Cartwright's plight in the top order in Chennai, it won't be a bad ploy to hand the opening slot to Travis Head, who had a promising 65 in their 103-run win in the warm-up match against Board President's XI last week.
As for Indian batting, it's really a healthy sign that their lower-order is living up to the challenge after the failure of top-order.
If Dhoni is back in his elements, it was also pleasing to see Bhuvneshwar Kumar's cameo of 32 not out off 30.
India cancel practice again
India's outdoor practice session had to be cancelled for the second successive day before rain made way for bright sunshine over the Eden Gardens, raising hopes of a full game in the second ODI against Australia here on Thursday.
In fact, Australia too had to cancel its outdoor training session even though the covers were removed for the first time in 48 hours.
Just after India left for team hotel, sun shone over the iconic stadium as Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly was seen inspecting the pitch and ground.
"It looks good," said Ganguly.
The local meteorological department also gave a positive Weather forecast for the match. "There is no more affect of low pressure. There are some chances of rain tomorrow but the weather will clear up towards the afternoon and there will be sunshine," IMD director Ganesh Das said.
A similar pattern was observed on Wednesday as there was a brief spell of rain in the morning, forcing the Australians to train indoors for the second successive day, while it remained hazy in the afternoon when Virat Kohli and Co checked in, and towards the evening the sun was out in full glow.