Stoinis injury blow for Australia

Australia have been dealt an injury blow for the must-win fourth ODI in Mohali with star allrounder Marcus Stoinis ruled out with a thumb issue.

Australia have made two changes to the side that won by 32 runs in Ranchi; Stoinis for Ashton Turner and left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff returns in place of Nathan Lyon.

India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first in Mohali where a win for Australia would force a deciding fifth game on Wednesday night in Delhi. India have made four changes. 

Stoinis injured his thumb fielding in the third ODI on Friday has been replaced by Western Australia batsman Turner, who made his ODI debut in the series opener in Hyderabad.

The loss of Stoinis is huge for Australia. The 29-year-old is Australia's reigning men's ODI player of the year and has been vital batting late in the innings.

He scored 52 to give Australia a sniff of victory in the final-over loss in Nagpur and on Friday his 31 lifted the tourists' total to beyond 300. 

Australia will also need to make up his overs with the ball. The right-armer has been heavily used by skipper Aaron Finch this series and his overs now look to be taken by allrounder Glenn Maxwell with Turner, who can deliver more-than-handy off-spin, currently unable to bowl due to a long-standing shoulder complaint.

India have called in Rishabh Pant to take the gloves with MS Dhoni to be rested for the final two matches of this series as they made four changes to the side that lost in Ranchi.

Dhoni's rest has prompted speculation that the third ODI defeat at Ranchi – Dhoni's hometown – may have been his last international match on Indian soil, although the enigmatic Dhoni's future is anyone's guess.

India have axed struggling batsman Ambati Rayudu with a recall for KL Rahul, while Mohammed Shami is out after copping a nasty blow to his leg when struck by a powerful drive while following through in his delivery stride. Bhuvneshwar Kumar comes in to replace him.

Australia's loss of Stoinis has also ensured star paceman Pat Cummins will not get a rest on the tour with the visitors desperate to claim a series win that has proved so elusive in recent times.

Cummins played a starring role with 3-36 in Friday's 32-run win in Ranchi that kept the five-match series alive.

Cummins and Jhye Richardson were surgically precise with their lines and lengths in their new-ball spell in Ranchi, conceding less than a handful of strokes to the leg-side as they zeroed in on off-stump.

Richardson claimed the first wicket of the innings – Shikhar Dhawan caught driving at backward point – as part of an opening spell that began with 16 scoreless deliveries.

Cummins then pinned Rohit Sharma with a delivery that nipped back off the benign surface before bowling No.4 Ambati Rayudu with a brilliant delivery that squared-up the right-hander and clipped the top of off.

Finch found it hard remembering a better opening to an innings from his two rapid pacemen and praised his entire bowling unit for restricting India to 281.

"It was very impressive," he said. "I thought on that wicket the length that they bowled was crucial.

"Any width was always going to get punished as it does in one-day cricket but the length that they bowled early on was crucial.

"Trapping Rohit on the crease was an important wicket but apart from that our bowling was pretty good throughout."

India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Yuzvendra Chalal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. 

Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey (wk), Jhye Richardson, Pat Cummins, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa.

Qantas Tour of India

First T20: Australia won by three wickets

Second T20: Australia won by seven wickets

First ODI: India won by six wickets

Second ODI: India won by eight runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 32 runs

Fourth ODI: March 10, Mohali

Fifth ODI: March 13, Delhi