Australia bat, injured Clarke out

Toss Australia chose to bat v India

Australia's stand-in captain Shane Watson won the toss and chose to bat against India in the triangular series ODI at the SCG.

Watson made his long-delayed return to the team as captain after Michael Clarke failed to recover in time from back soreness that flared in Hobart. He will open the batting with David Warner, with the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade dropping down to No. 7.

Australia have now had four captains of the national side in various formats this summer - Clarke, George Bailey, Ricky Ponting and Watson.

Clarke is expected to be fit in time for Australia's next game, on March 2. "Michael's back was sore during the last ODI in Hobart on Friday night," Cricket Australia physiotherapist, Alex Kountouris, said. "With the short turnaround between games we have taken the precaution of him not playing in today's game at the SCG."

In the other change to the team, Clint McKay was recalled for Ryan Harris, who proved expensive with the ball in The loss to Sri Lanka on Friday.

India were able to recall MS Dhoni after suspension, meaning Parthiv Patel dropped out of the XI that lost to Sri Lanka in Brisbane.

The visitors must win the match to stay in realistic contention for the finals, otherwise relying on bonus points as well as wins to close their gap with Sri Lanka and Australia.

Australia 1 Shane Watson (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Peter Forrest, 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 Daniel Christian, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Clint McKay, 10 Xavier Doherty, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

India 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Umesh Yadav.