India vs Australia, 4th ODI: Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Aaron Finch and other key battles

With the One-Day International (ODI) already pocketed, India will look to assert themselves even more on Australia prior to the Twenty20 International (T20I) series. Hosts so far have been aggressive but ruthlessness is what one desires from this Virat Kohli-led side.

Australia, on the other hand have had more misses than hits in the series. It was only in the last match that one saw some resistance from their batsman Aaron Finch. Australia will like their batsmen to rise to occasion and play for pride more than anything, now with the series out of grasp.

Let us look in some of the mouth watering contests that will arise at Bengaluru.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Aaron Finch: India s pace spearhead, Bhuvneshwar has been clinical to say the least. His swing (both ways ) has troubled Australia on multiple occasions in this series.

It was at Indore, that Finch got the better of Bhuvneshwar and denied the swing bowler early inroads. Bengaluru is expected to a be a run-fest, and Bhuvneshwar s new-ball spell will key to India s success.

Finch will want to go one-up once again and put Australia in a position of strength.

Stats: Out of the 18 balls Bhuvneshwar bowled to Finch; 13 runs were scored inclusive of a six.

Hardik Pandya vs Marcus Stoinis: In the battle of the all-rounders, so far Pandya has been like a run-away wreck. In both departments, Hardik has outsmarted his Australian counterpart.

Stoinis, on the other hand, has waged a lonely war for Australia s lower-order batting. His knock of 62* was reminiscent of his bat-wielding skills.

Stats: Pandya was severe on Stoinis at Indore, scoring 24 runs from 27 balls including 3 fours.

Kuldeep Yadav vs Steven Smith: Thorn in Australia s flower has been Kuldeep. The 22-year-old young Chinaman has outfoxed the visitors in the ODI series, including a hat-trick at Kolkata. His guile and trickery has even fooled Steve Smith.

Smith acknowledged worldwide as one of the best players of spin bowling has found it difficult. His knock of 63 runs at Indore was feast for the purist. It will an intriguing sight to witness a master of batsmen-ship go up against a novice of spin bowling.

Stats: Smith milked Kuldeep for 19 runs from 24 balls before the later scalped him at Indore.

Rohit Sharma vs Nathan Coulter-Nile: Rohit finally returned to his belligerence self in the third ODI. He cut, hooked, drove and nudged the ball with complete control to dampen visitors morale. Rohit s assault gave India the perfect launch pad to attain a high-score.

His only hindrance was Coulter-Nile. Coulter-Nile has been tight and unforgiving in lengths pocketing wicket after wicket. Rohit struggled initially against Coulter-Nile but survived and survived.

Rohit launched himself on Coulter-Nile at the same venue, 4 years back when he slammed 209. A repeat, maybe?

Stats: Rohit scored 15 runs off 14 balls at Indore, includes a six and a four.