Australia vs India, 1st T20I: Match Preview – India’s tour of Australia 2020-21
Virat Kohli with Aaron Finch. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Australia vs India three-match T20I series will begin on Friday (4th December) as Manuka Oval (Canberra) will host this match.

While they recently finished the three-match ODI series in Australia, the hosts won that series by 2-1. While it will be the first T20I in Australia in this calendar year (2020), India will play their first T20I since last February.

Australia, India, Australia vs India, Match Preview, 1st T20I
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Australia vs India, 1st T20I: Match Preview

Australia

Australia, India, Australia vs India, Match Preview, 1st T20I
Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The hosts Australia will begin the T20I series with high confidence due to recently winning the ODI series against Men in Blue. Though they will miss the explosive in-form left-handed opening batsman David Warner, they have the other in-form batsmen skipper Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell etc. Also, they have included the T20 specialist D’Arcy Short as the replacement of injured David Warner.

While there is the question on Mitchell Starc‘s present fitness status, the hosts still have enough quality fast bowlers like Andrew Tye, in-form Sean Abbott, Josh Hazlewood. Both the spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar are in good form with the ball in hand.

While Marcus Stoinis is in the recovery process, they still have the effective all-rounders like Moises Henriques, uncapped Daniel Sams, T20I uncapped Cameron Green and experienced Glenn Maxwell.

While Australia haven’t suffered a T20I defeat at home since November 2018 (5 wins and 1 no result), they once again have to prove their consistency in this format. In this year, while they have played 6 T20Is, they won thrice and lost thrice.

Full Squad

Aaron Finch (C), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, D’Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

Recent T20I form (Oldest to latest): Lost, Won, Lost, Lost and Won.

India

Australia, India, Australia vs India, Match Preview, 1st T20I
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Though the visitors India are unbeaten in T20Is in this calendar year (7 wins, including 2 Super Over victories and 1 no result) and they also won the last ODI at this venue (Manuka Oval, Canberra), the T20I series will be challenging enough for them. India also have excellent T20I records in Australia (Played 9 – Won 5, Lost 3 and No Result 1) and it can give them more confidence ahead of this T20I series.

Absence of vice-captain Rohit Sharma has opened up the question of Shikhar Dhawan’s opening partner in the T20I series. Though Mayank Agarwal opened with Dhawan in the first two ODIs in this tour, who was also in good form during the IPL 2020, the IPL 2020 Orange Cap winner KL Rahul has a better chance to open with Dhawan in the T20I series.

While skipper Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya are in good form in this challenging tour, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey have also the abilities to handle the Indian batting line-up.

Indian pacers were not in-form during the ODI series. While the left-arm pacer T Natarajan impressed in his recent ODI debut, Deepak Chahar can be included in the T20I playing XI. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was very expensive and ineffective during the ODI series, while the off-spinner Washington Sundar is inexperienced in Australia.

Full Squad

Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vc and wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan.

Recent T20I form (Oldest to latest): Won, Won, Tied (Won Super Over), Tied (Won Super Over) and Won.