The curtain raiser is scheduled to be held on November 21 at the Gabba in Brisbane. Following which, the teams travel to Melbourne and Sydney for the second and third matches respectively.
India's tour of Australia begins with both the teams locking horns in T20 internationals. Much like the format, the schedule of the T20 series is frantic with three matches packed in space of five days.
The curtain raiser is scheduled to be held on November 21 at the Gabba in Brisbane. Following which, the teams travel to Melbourne and Sydney for the second and third matches respectively.
The series pits the second ranked team in the world (India) against the No.3 ranked team. If Virat Kohli's presence is not enough to whet your appetite, then the presence of four of the format’s top 10 batsmen and three of its top 10 bowlers surely should.
The two teams are entering the series with contrasting sets of fortune. Australia were whitewashed 0-3 in the UAE against Pakistan and India inflicted a 3-0 thrashing to West Indies at home. It is worth recalling that Australia suffered a whitewash against India in India's last T20I series Down Under.
Naturally, Australia would be in pursuit to set its T20I record straight while India-on a run of seven consecutive series wins- would be aiming to add another series in its kitty.
Squads
India
Virat Kohli (c), Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav
Australia
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Ben McDermott, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
Possible XI
India possible XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav/Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
Australia Possible XI: Aaron Finch (c), D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell , Alex Carey, Ben McDermott, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye, Billy Stanlake
Players to watch out for
Rohit Sharma
2018 has proved to be a fantastic year for Rohit Sharma in terms of T20 cricket. The Indian opener has slammed two hundreds and three fifties on his way to 560 runs this year. Those 500+ runs have been scored at an average of 40.00 and at a stunning strike rate of 148.93. Should Rohit continue his scintillating form India could very well pouch its second consecutive T2oI series Down Under.
Aaron Finch
With just 12 runs from his past five T20I encounters Finch is suffering a dip in form in T20 cricket. By batsman's own admission this a blip as he has altered his batting technique to adjust to Test cricket. But his prowess in slam-bang cricket is well known. It is not for nothing that he is No.2 batsman in T20Is. It is worth mentioning that Australian skipper is second for T20 runs scored this year (1295) and is averaging more than 50 (51.80) with a strike rate of 175.23. Should Finch get back in his groove he could prove to be a massive headache for Indian bowlers. Finch has typically fared well against India, with an average of 42.75 against the Asian powerhouse.
Form Guide
India: W-W-W-W-L
Australia: L-L-L-L-W
Head-to-Head (last five matches)
India: 3
Australia: 1
No Result: 1
Betting Odds (bet 365):
India: 4/5
Australia: 1
Other popular bets on the match can be checked on Oddschecker.
Where to watch
All the T20 matches are scheduled to start at 1.20 PM IST. The matches will be beamed live on Sony Pictures Sports Network. and will also be streamed live on SonyLiv app.
