Preview
After a mauling in the ODI series, India and Australia begin their T20 World Cup preparation with a three-match bilateral T20I series starting Friday. Coming immediately after the Indian Premier League, neither side are short of T20 practice and if anything appeared hurried in some of their dismissals in the ODI series.
The challenge for India will be balancing their side while Australia, which lost in the absence of David Warner, will look to find the x-factor to counter India’s experienced T20 players.
India made quite a few changes for the final T20I and had a good outing with the bat courtesy their lower order batters. The big guns, though, are due a big knock.
Team news and predicted XI
India have a decision to make with the ball as Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal, who sat out are good T20 bowlers. It makes sense to bring them back for Kuldeep Yadav and Shadul Thakur.
Australia will look to open with Matthew Wade possibly in Warner’s absence. Starc should return if his injury isn’t serious while Josh Hazlewood could get a T20 game after long given his ODI form in the series.
Predicted XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia
Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis/Cameron Green, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Daniel Sams, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa
Fantasy tips
- Australia’s big guns, Finch and Maxwell are must picks although Smith is a tricky pick in this format.
- Jadeja, Hardik and even Ashton Agar, who bowled well last game, are good picks for this game.
- Mohammed Shami is a wicket-taker and is a decent pick but also have Bumrah around as he looked threatening last game in phases.
- Zampa is a terrific spinner in this format and has the wood over some of India’s batters and is a good pick.
Fantasy XI
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
Shikhar Dhawan
Aaron Finch
Glenn Maxwell
Hardik Pandya
Ashton Agar
Mohammed Shami
Adam Zampa
Mitchell Starc
Jasprit Bumrah
