India and Australia will face each other for a three-match T20 series during the Australia tour of India and the first T20 match begins on 20th September at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium. Both India and Australia are eager to make a sound beginning to the series as this series is considered a precursor to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
India, the No.1 T20 side up is going against the World T20 Champions for the series. Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue will walk into the series after a poor performance in Asia Cup 2022. Team India faced inconsistency in batting and bowling during the Asia Cup and this will be a major concern in the Australia series also.
Bowling was not up to the mark and the middle order also not showed a remarkable performance. Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were not able to score much throughout the tournament. A comeback is expected from both the star players in this series.
The one and only positive thing to emerge from the unforgettable failure in Asia Cup is the century scored by former captain Virat Kohli. Kohli’s 71st international century after a long three years is a notable one in the tournament. If Virat continues the same (122 not out off 61 balls), India can easily beat Australia in this series.
Apart from Kohli, everyone’s eyes are on the opener KL Rahul’s approach toward a quality bowling line-up led by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. He will continue as an opener in this series also along with captain Rohit Sharma.
“KL Rahul will open for us at the T20 World Cup. We are not going to experiment with that position a lot. His performances often go noticed. He is a very important player for India,” Rohit Sharma said about Rahul.
“The roles that have been defined to each player in the last 0-12 months have been very clear and a player understands what is expected of him and everyone is working towards it. I am looking forward to the challenge against the Australian team and working towards how I can better myself as an opening batter and see how I can have the most impact for the team when I walk out to bat”, said Rahul about this.
Both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik are available as wicket-keepers. Let’s wait and see whether Rishabh Pant chosen over Dinesh Karthik or Dinesh Karthik will be trusted by the team management in the role of a finisher.
Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda will be tested in the middle order. In the absence of star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma may think about the replacement of Axar Patel as the 6th bowling option. The full-in-form Hardik Pandya will also be hope for team India.
Jasprit Bumrah’s return will be a great relief for the whole team. With Harshal Patel and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the pace department will be in form.
The reigning world champions Australia is coming into this contest after beating New Zealand in an ODI series. They were undefeated in their last two visits. Even though the Aussies rested their main players like David Warner and Mitchell Starc, the team had enough resources like Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, and Aaron Finch. They also have a rich advantage of playing in the Indian subcontinent during the IPL.
Aaron Finch announced his ODI retirement during Australia’s recent home series against New Zealand, and now all eyes will be on the 35-year-old in the upcoming T20I against India. Despite his ODI retirement, he will remain as the T20I captain for Australia. Finch can now focus more on the T20 format and his runs are important for Aussies.
An exciting factor about team Aussies is the launch of Tim David to international cricket. Jos Inglis, Nathan Ellis, and other fringe players are expected to get a good run.
India and Australia played 23 T20 matches so far and out of those, India has won 13 matches. Australia came out victorious 9 times. The pitch at Mohali is a nice one for batting with a large and quick outfield. The series opener at Mohali could provide Men in Blue with a great opportunity to plug the gap after the terrible Asia Cup.
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