From Bumrah’s wicketless venture to Kohli and Smith’s run-out involvements: Funky predictions for the ODIs

The team batting first will score over 300 in each of the three matches

Is there a bigger ‘Eff you’ to bowlers than playing 3 ODIs at Sydney and Canberra? Can’t think of any. If you’re a purist who gets exasperated by flat conditions offering zilch to the bowlers, do not bother watching this series. You’ve been warned. 

Mayank Agarwal will be cleaned up - at least once - by Pat Cummins

I mean, Pat Cummins is no Kyle Jamieson, but he still can deliver a peach or two, you know? Mayank might have made the IPL his own but we fully expect him to get castled by Cummo. 

A monster Finch-Warner opening stand will be succeeded by a mother of all collapses

This is not a prediction, this is a spoiler alert - don't blame us later!

Shikhar Dhawan will score a century and a fifty

No one knows the reason behind Dhawan’s penchant for scoring runs against the Aussies. But he just keeps doing it over and over and over and over again. Reckon the Aussies would be better off not wasting time devising plans for him. 

Navdeep Saini will end the series with an average over 100 and an ER over 6.50

Bowling at 150 clicks is not of much use if you’re going to one-dimensionally throw pies, you know? We’d initially reserved this prediction for AJ Tye, but then we realized he wasn’t going to get a game. 

Marcus Stoinis will not cross 30 in any match

As the coach of Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting might be obliged to say nice things but the Stoinis we saw in the England series was, cricketing-ability wise, almost exactly the one that turned up for the 2019 WC.  We are not going to be deceived by IPL performances. Nope. 

Glenn Maxwell will average over 50

In case you’re wondering, no, this is not a satire. The man played one of the great modern-day knocks the last time he played an ODI, put some respect on his name. 

Ravindra Jadeja will end the series with 2 or fewer wickets

We strongly stick to our view that Ravindra Jadeja is an average-at-best limited-overs cricketer. 

Zampa and Chahal will combinedly pick 15 or more wickets

Talk about rubbing salt on RCB’s wounds………..

Both Kohli and Smith will be involved in run-outs

Shreyas Iyer and Marnus Labuschagne, you’ve been warned. 

Jasprit Bumrah will extend his wicketless streak till at least the Canberra ODI 

Going by Aakash Chopra’s words, IPL performances are irrelevant, which means Bumrah is in absolutely TERRIBLE form, having picked up just 1 wicket in his last 6 ODI innings. We expect him to remain wicketless in each of the first two ODIs, at least.