Watershed series emboldens Aussies in 50-over return

An Australian side fuelled by last year's watershed series victory in India will head back to cricket's epicentre confident they can re-ascend to the top of the world in one-day cricket.

Australia's three-game tour of India will mark the first time the beaten World Cup semi-finalists have played an ODI since champions England emphatically ended their hopes of a sixth 50-over crown at Edgbaston in July.

Consecutive defeats in their final two games soured a campaign that had, until then, gone largely to script. Emboldened by a 3-2 comeback series triumph in India, they lost just once in their first eight games.

Captain Aaron Finch, whose return to form in that Indian campaign following a difficult stretch mirrored the overall turnaround of his team, believes his side are well-equipped to defeat Virat Kohli's men on their home patch.

"It just gives us confidence that our game plan in those conditions is good enough," Finch said ahead of his departure on Thursday.

"What can happen when you play in the subcontinent is you start to doubt your game plan because they're so dominant when they get on top.

"India or Pakistan … or Sri Lanka. They can make you start doubting yourself.

"Knowing that our game plan is good enough and knowing that our skills are good enough to beat India in India. That give us a lot of confidence going there."

That series win over a strong Indian side came without leading lights Steve Smith, David Warner and Mitchell Starc, who have all returned for the upcoming week-long series featuring games in Mumbai, Rajkot and Bengaluru.

Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins are also in an Australian side that's close to full strength.

Australia's approach to batting in ODIs came under the microscope during a miserable run of form that begun in 2016, and later compounded by 12-month bans to Warner and Smith, as England adopted a radically more brazen strategy.

But Finch and coach Justin Langer, who will miss the upcoming tour as his assistant Andrew McDonald takes the reins, are confident their style has been vindicated and early signs suggest it is set to remain in place for the 2023 World Cup in India.

"I think we had the right game plan for the World Cup, it worked for the last 12 months," said Finch. "It seemed to work really well. We just didn't execute on that semi-final day.

"We lost early wickets and we always had our backs against the wall.

"The top four getting hundreds and taking wickets in the Power Play – that's never going to change. That goes without saying – you can't get to those massive totals or chase down big scores if you don't have the foundation of a top four getting a really significant score.

"The fundamentals of the game don't change. I can't imagine it (Australia's ODI strategy) changing a huge amount.

"You can tinker with combinations and structures and the way you go about different phases of the game, but all in all it's pretty similar."

Australia's first game is on Tuesday and will be live on Fox Cricket and Kayo.

Australia Qantas ODI Tour of India 2020

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (vc), Pat Cummins (vc), Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa

India squad: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami.

First ODI: January 14, Mumbai (D/N) (Fox & Kayo)

Second ODI: January 17, Rajkot (D/N) (Fox & Kayo)

Third ODI: January 19, Bengaluru (D/N) (Fox & Kayo)