One down, one to go

Original series preview
When you've just been beaten 2-0 in a two-Test series, the last thing you would want is surely to play yet more cricket, but that's just the mental battle facing Australia as they take on the Indians in three one-day matches, starting in Kochi on Sunday.

Fortunately for Australia, India are resting several of their top stars, including Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, leaving them significantly below par.

But Australia won't make the mistake of underestimating them, for not only do they still have plenty of match-winners, including Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who captained the side so brilliantly in the Test series.

The other reason the Aussies won't take anything lightly is that they too are resting players, with captain Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson all sitting this one out. That weakens them and though they have a good side still, bet365 make India 4/6 favourites to win the series, with Australia 6/5 to come out on top.

Though there may be one or two Australians playing for a place in the Ashes summer, the biggest problem for the tourists is mental; they probably just want to get home and start building for the visit of England.

But with the 2011 World Cup just a few months away now, there is still plenty to play for and I expect India, at least, to come out firing and make life extremely difficult for Australia, who badly need to win the first match, for their morale as much as anything else.

Interesting to see Murali Vijay at the top of the betting to be India's top runscorer in the three matches. Bet365 make him 10/3, largely off the back of his fine century in the second Test no doubt.

But there could be better value further down the order. Suresh Raina, another in excellent form, is 9/2, Dhoni himself is 5/1 and new opener, Shikhar Dhawan, is the same price. You can get 11/2 on Vinod Kohli but also the same price on Yuvraj and if anyone has something to prove it's him. He desperately wants his Test place back and while a one-day triumph would not necessarily bring that about, at least it would put him back in the limelight.

His average against Australia is not good but he is the man for the big occasion and will want to show that he is the man for India, so 11/2 could yet prove to be a big price.

In the absence of Ponting, one-day specialists Shaun Marsh and David Warner share favouritism at 3/1, with captain Michael Clarke 4/1. Michael Hussey, improving all the time as a one-day player, 9/2, while wicket-keeper Tim Paine is 11/2, with Cameron White and Callum Ferguson each 7/1.

Australia won't roll over - it's not in their nature - but India have all the aces right now and even with a depleted side, they can come out on top.