Opener Travis Head says Australia are chasing a fast start against India in Perth on Sunday as they seek to avoid a fourth straight one-day international series defeat.

To do so, Australia will have to overcome the world’s No.1-ranked ODI side who are on an eight-match winning streak at a ground where they’ve never previously won a 50-over international.

The hosts have lost all three of the ODIs they’ve played at Perth Stadium and were bundled out for just 140 by the pace of Pakistan in their most recent encounter at the Burswood venue last November.

The only instance where Australia have lost more consecutive ODI matches to begin their record at a new venue was a streak of four defeats to Sri Lanka at Colombo’s P Sara Oval between 1983 and 1994.

While the Mitch Marsh-led side recorded Australia’s second largest winning margin by runs in their most recent ODI, they have lost their past three bilateral series in the 50-over format – 2-1 to South Africa in August, 2-0 to Sri Lanka in February and 2-1 to Pakistan last November.

Head, who top scored with 142 in that thumping 276-run win in their most recent ODI against the Proteas, said the reigning world champions were determined to correct their recent run of results after winning 14 straight games between October 2023 and September 2024 – the second longest streak in men’s ODIs.

“We played really well in that last one, but we didn’t play too great to start the series,” Head told reporters in Perth ahead of the first ODI against India.

“The key for us is to make sure we start well on Sunday; we don’t want to be playing our best in the last game like we did last series.

“(It’ll) be tough against a quality outfit but exciting for a few guys to get their first crack at it.”

Head, Axar all smiles ahead of bumper ODI series

Australia will blood some fresh faces in the three-match series against February’s Champions Trophy victors, with Josh Philippe to earn his fourth ODI cap as wicketkeeper, while Matthew Renshaw and Mitch Owen are in line to debut.

Spinner Matthew Kuhnemann is also in the squad and will be hoping to add to his four ODI appearances with Adam Zampa missing the first match for family reasons, while allrounder Matt Short returns after missing the loss to South Africa in August with a cartilage fracture in his rib.

While Head and Marsh are pencilled in as Australia’s white-ball opening pair, there will be plenty of opportunities in the middle order for the likes of Renshaw, Short, Owen and Marnus Labuschagne (recalled on Friday after Cameron Green was ruled out with a side injury) following the recent ODI retirements of Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell.

“It’s hard to believe Matt Renshaw hasn’t played for Australia in the short format having played early on in Test cricket,” Head said.

“He’s someone who’s going really well so I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops and plays in this format.

“We’ll find some things out about a few guys … against a highly skilled opposition.”

Head has also been named in Australia’s squad for the first two T20 internationals that follow the ODI leg, but he’s unsure if he’ll play in the rest of the five-match series as he ramps up his preparation for next month’s Ashes that could potentially include a Sheffield Shield appearance for South Australia.

Boland brilliance inspires Vics to thrilling Shield victory

State teammate Alex Carey was released from the ODI squad to play in SA’s ongoing Shield clash with Queensland before linking back up with the Australian team in Adelaide ahead of Thursday’s second ODI.

The T20 series against India concludes at the Gabba on November 8, with SA’s round four Shield clash scheduled for November 10-13 against Tasmania in Hobart, with the first Test against England beginning eight days later in Perth.

“We’re working through that at the moment, we’ll see how the next few games go and what that prep looks like for that period,” Head said.

“At the moment, I’m just trying to make sure I get some runs Sunday against a high-quality team and put myself in the best position to get runs this summer.”

Australia v India ODIs 2025

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc. Game two onwards: Adam Zampa, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis

India squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal

October 19: First ODI v India, Perth Stadium, Perth, 2:30pm AEDT

October 23: Second ODI v India, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 2:30pm AEDT

October 25: Third ODI v India, SCG, Sydney, 2:30pm AEDT

All matches live via Kayo Sports and Foxtel