India vs Australia T20I Series: Kohli and Co clearly have the upper hand

A battered Australian side is set to take on a confident Indian team in the first Twenty20 International match at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Saturday.

Saturday's match will be first of three matches in the T20I series.

The series comes less than a week after the visitors were trumped 4-1 by India in the five-match One Day International series.

Head-to-head, the two sides have met 13 times in T20 Internationals across bilateral and ICC events. India dominates Australia with nine wins against the latter's four. Interestingly, the Aussies have not beaten India in a T20I since 2012.

India currently ranks fifth on the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I rankings while Australia ranks seventh.

The two teams last met during the ICC World Twenty20 at Mohali in 2016 when India defeated Australia by six wickets.

Schedule

First T20I: October 7, Ranchi
Second T20I: October 10, Guwahati

Third T20I: October 13, Hyderabad

India squad and changes

Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan.

Dinesh Karthik made it to the squad based because of his current form. Aged 38, Ashish Nehra is making yet another comeback to the side. Nehra has played 25 T20Is and taken 34 wickets in his career so far. Ajinkya Rahane has been left out despite his four half centuries in the recently concluded 5-match ODI series against the Aussies.

Rookie left-hand pacer Jason Behrendorff, wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine, all-rounders Moises Henriques and Daniel Christian have joined the Australian camp ahead of the series.

Australian skipper Steve Smith has sustained a minor shoulder injury and it remains unclear if he will play in Saturday's fixture.

What to expect

Ravindra Jadeja reaped heavy benefits from Ranchi's pitch when the two sides last played there in March 2017. Jadeja picked nine wickets in the Test, slicing through the Australian batting line-up, before the visitors salvaged a draw.

Some rainfall is expected in Ranchi around noon on match day. But the chances of rain disruptions and delays remain low for all three matches, according to weather reports.

The two sides started the tour as equals, in spite of the visitors' trouble playing spin, but the outcome of the five-match ODI series was disastrous for Australia. It left their flaws exposed to a bullish Indian side that was only too happy to exploit them.

While Australia created opportunities in every match, they failed to capitalise on most of them. India on the other hand is spirited by resounding victories in four of the matches. While the format is different, it will take a lot more on the Aussies' part to change their own fortunes .