After hammering Australia 4-1 in the ODI series, India and Australia will face each other in the first T20I match to be played at Ranchi, tomorrow. In the past 6 T20I matches, India has won all six of them. It promises to be a cracking series with team India look to continue their domination during this series also.
Team India have few changes to the team with Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Nehra and Dinesh Karthik making a comeback into the squad. Dhawan was rested for the ODI series due to personal reasons.
The opening pair could be Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma who have done well for team India. Virat Kohli has the habit of scoring big runs against Australia. In the World T20 2016, Kohli scored a match-winning knock of 82* which helped them to qualify for semi-finals. KL Rahul should be given chance at number 4 as he did not get a chance in ODI series.
Kedar Jadhav could be given a chance at number 5 who can big hit sixes. Hardik Pandya who was named as man of the series would be eager continues his brilliant form in the T20 series. MS Dhoni will be playing in front of his crowd should be sent according to the situation.
In the pace bowling department, the comeback man Ashish Nehra with his experience of bowling in death overs and also the young Jasprit Bumrah should be included. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel should be given a chance for the first T20I match at Ranchi. Jasprit Bumrah has been a star in Indian bowling line up.
Australia would be looking to change their fortunes in T20I series with good performances. David Warner and Aaron Finch had excellent partnerships during the 3 matches they batted together. The captain Steve Smith might not play tomorrow’s match due to an injury.
The team comprises of few experienced players like Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, and Daniel Christian who can change the course of the match with all-around abilities. Jason Behrendroff could make his T20I debut tomorrow, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye who picked an hattrick in IPL 10 can trouble the Indian batsmen.
Adam Zampa and Travis Head could be the spinning options for Australia. If India could whitewash Australia 3-0 in T20I series, then Virat Kohli led side will jump to number 2 in T20I rankings. Australia needs to play their best cricket if they have to defeat this Indian team.
