Brisbane, Feb 24 (IANS) India won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the first ODI of the three-game series here at The Gabba on Tuesday.

The stage changes, but the focus stays on the same marquee names as the two sides square off. India head into the 50-over contest on the back of a 2-1 T20I series win, powered by standout individual displays.

Smriti Mandhana topped the run charts with 129 runs, while Georgia Voll impressed for Australia with 116. With the ball, India enjoyed the upper hand as Arundhati Reddy claimed eight wickets to lead the tally, and Shree Charani added five crucial scalps.

The spotlight now shifts to the ODI arena, a format where Australia’s legacy looms large. Seven-time world champions with a commanding head-to-head record over India, they have traditionally set the benchmark in one-day cricket. India, however, will aim to carry forward the momentum and belief gained from their T20I success.

This series also marks Australian skipper Alyssa Healy’s last of her career, with the ace wicketkeeper-batter set to bow out of international cricket after the conclusion of the home series.

Winning the toss, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said, “ I think batting first will be a better option for us today. So that’s why, as a group, we decided that let’s bat first. I feel opportunity, because last day when we played the World Cup, we all had really a lot of fun and hopefully today also we’ll have fun. We do have a few changes. Kashvee is back in the side. And I’ll give you my playing list so you can just go through it.”

Meanwhile, Healy said, “Happy days. I would have loved to bowl first. So we’ve got a desired result, but we’ve obviously got to start really well and make use of this fresh wicket. It’s been very, very unusual, I will say that, but also really enjoyable to sort of, you know, watch what’s going to unfold in a couple of games’ time anyway. So it’s nice to be back, nice to be put under the pressure by the Indian side. They’ve started really well in the series, so, you know, we’re going to have to fight really well in this ODI series to wrestle back some momentum. I just think starting really well in this series. We’ve prided ourselves on our one-day game. We like these conditions and we play really well in these conditions.

“So hopefully, we can remain consistent to that in what we do really well, and hopefully, that throws the first punch. No Perry, no Garth. Got some injuries picked up in the third T20. That’s probably the two notable changes.”

Playing XIs:

India: Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh

Australia: Alyssa Healy (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney (wk), Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molienux, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

–IANS

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