It is not common for visiting sides to enjoy a brilliant record at any venue in India against the hosts but when it comes to the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, the story is completely different.

Australia have won both of their previous encounters at the venue and their unbeaten record can be a cause of concern for the Indian cricket team. The visiting side won their first match in 2007 by 47 runs and two years later, Shaun Marsh scored a brilliant century to guide Australia to a narrow three run victory.

However, there is a silver lining for India when it comes to facing Australia on home soil as they have won 6 out of the last 7 ODIs between the two sides on home soil. In 2017-18, India won the five-match series 4-1 while last year, the Kohli-led side impressed once again with a 2-1 victory in the three-match ODI series.

Earlier, India capped their memorable tour of Australia, where they registered their first ever test series victory Down Under, by claiming the three-match ODI series 2-1 in January. It was a brilliant show by the Indian cricket team as they registered their first ever bilateral series win on Australian soil.

The Indian cricket team is slowly moving into the World Cup mode and even a 0-2 loss in the just-concluded T20 series won’t see any shift in plans as far as skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri are concerned.

“Every team will look to fine-tune whatever they need to before the World Cup, and we’ll keep doing that in the ODI series too, but we still want to win every match we play,” skipper Kohli said after the Bengaluru T20 loss.

The five-match series against Australia is naturally important for a handful of Indian players who want to nail down their places with solid performances against the tourists who have slipped to sixth in world rankings.

(With agency inputs)

First Published: Mar 01, 2019 12:55 IST