In the first T20I of the five-match bilateral series, India will take on Australia at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam tonight, November 23, at 7 PM IST.
The World Cup final between Australia and India is still fresh in the Indian fan’s mind, and the pain of defeat has hardly even started to subside. The hosts had an incredible campaign that only went down against the formidable Australians on a very important stage. The same two teams will once again play each other again in the shortest format of the game.
Naturally, after a demanding two-and-a-half month, India decided to go with a new lineup, allowing the majority of its World Cup team to take a much-needed break. Just three players from the one-day squad remain, Prasidh Krishna, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav, who will serve as the team’s captain. While Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad are likely to open, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, and skipper Yadav will bat in the middle order. One of Shivam Dube and Axar Patel might be considered in the XI, given how the pitch is likely to be. With the ball in hand, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Ravi Bishnoi, and Avesh Khan might get a go. It’s a long series and possibly everyone in the squad will get a game at some stage.
Matthew Wade, on the other hand, will lead the Australian team, who will compete in his first international series in over a year. In addition, the team is strengthened by the experience of World Cup winners such as Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, and Travis Head. The likes of Tim David, and Matthew Short are new additions to the series, thus making batting a bit stronger. Along with this, the bowling lineup is rather new than the batters, as the side has added Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, and Kane Richardson among others, which will test Indian batters with some heavy pace.
Head-to-Head:
Both the nations have played 26 T20I matches against each other so far of which India have won 15 while the Aussies have won 10. One match also got washed out as well.Â
Where to watch:
TV: Sports18
OTT: JioCinema