Big picture

"50-over World Cup is the biggest sporting event in cricketing history. So, for me, this is the biggest event that I will be part of."

It'll be a stern test right off the bat, because they're playing Australia, and is there anything as spine-jellifying in sport as the prospect of facing Australia in a cricket World Cup? This Australian team isn't the Australian team of 1999, 2003 or 2007, and they aren't a complete team either, lacking most of all depth in the spin department, but you'd be surprised if they didn't make the semi-finals at the least. India won't face too many stronger oppositions in this tournament. They aren't being eased into this at all.

Chepauk, newly renovated, sports a series of murals commemorating the many historic moments it has witnessed. One is particularly interesting, and unusual in a country that usually only celebrates the achievements of its own: Pakistan's victorious team soaking in a standing ovation while going on a victory lap of Chepauk in 1999. This is a crowd known to appreciate good cricket no matter who plays it, so they're guaranteed a good time on Sunday, as long as the rain stays away.

Form guide

India LWWWL (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Australia WLLLL

In the spotlight - Hardik Pandya and Glenn Maxwell

Team news

India (probable XI): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill/Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer/Suryakumar Yadav, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Australia (probable XI): 1 David Warner, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Adam Zampa

Pitch and conditions

A straw-coloured, black-soil pitch is likely to induce India to play three spinners. Chepauk tends to offer a fair contest between bat and ball: the last eight first-innings scores in ODIs here have ranged from 227 to 299, with the team batting first going on to win six times.

The weather is likely to be muggy, with a forecast maximum of 33 degrees Celsius. The North-East monsoon could bring scattered showers in the evening.

Stats and trivia

Quotes

"You heard the great man say so many times that you know, until he wins the World Cup, he's got a bit of unfinished business. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. So it's the same for us as well. You want to win the World Cup, It's the biggest prize that you can have in your career. But again, there's a way to do it. There's a procedure that you need to follow. There's a process to it [] It's good to be desperate. It's good to be hungry. But you've got to find that balance, right? [] You cannot get way too ahead of yourself because that can lead into something that you don't really wish for."
India captain Rohit Sharma throws in a Sachin Tendulkar (or Lionel Messi) reference to highlight what this World Cup means to his team

"I think the most exciting thing about a World Cup is it is a campaign. It does feel like you're there with 14 other guys and you're on a journey to try and make the next couple of months as special as it can be. So I love that. There's no forward planning and you're not trying to manage different formats now. We're here for a World Cup and everyone's fully focused on that. So, I've really enjoyed that and the boys have been awesome so far and yeah, it's my third World Cup and first one as captain. They're all really special."
Australia captain Pat Cummins