With one eye on next month’s T20 World Cup, India take on Australia in three T20I series

Deepankar Sharda

Mohali, September 19

With the T20 World Cup not far away, the three-match T20I series between India and Australia has acquired some context. Both teams will have the same concerns in the first match here tomorrow – they would be keen for a good performance by their players, and pulling off a win won’t necessarily be their main concern.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had termed the series ‘important’ due to the looming T20 World Cup, and his rival skipper Aaron Finch doesn’t differ from him. Both sides have faced each other in 23 T20Is, and out of them, India have won 13 while Australia have won nine matches, and one match ended without a result.

India will be looking to sort out their team combination, an issue seen during the Asia Cup as well, in order to give a fillip to their T20 World Cup preparation. With Mohammed Shami out of the series, the Indian attack will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel will be fighting it out for the second pacer’s spot. All-rounders Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel will be key to India’s balance, along with Ravichandaran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal if the management opts to play with two pacers and two spinners. In the Asia Cup, India were forced to play with five bowlers.

Though Sharma has made it clear that KL Rahul will be his opening partner in Australia, there’s a possibility that Virat Kohli could get to open alongside him.

Smith at No. 3, David to debut

Australia, meanwhile, have rested a lot of senior players, including David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh, but skipper Finch confirmed that Steve Smith will bat at No. 3 and there would be a new role for all-rounder Cameron Green. The T20 globetrotter Tim David, who has played international cricket for Singapore, is also set to make his international debut for Australia. And the skipper has full faith in him as he termed David as the ‘X’ factor in the squad.

Australia have reached India with a rich T20 experience, having won recently against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Ball can swing here: Finch

Having played here before, Finch seemed quite aware about the conditions. “We know the ball can swing around and it can carry through quite a bit, so I think we will be mindful of not being too narrow-minded in terms of our focus,” said Finch. “Seeing the wicket yesterday, it looked like there was quite a bit of grass on it. Every decision that we make has one eye towards the World Cup,” he added.

Rahul on strike-rate

Having faced criticism about his batting strike-rate, India vice-captain Rahul said that numbers can be deceptive and not always tell the whole story. “We criticise ourselves the most. We are playing for the country and when we don’t do well it hurts us the most,” said Rahul.

“You never see a batter who has played at a certain strike-rate (throughout an innings). Whether it was important for him to play at a strike-rate of 200 or whether the team could have still won with the batter playing at 100 or 120, these things are not always analysed. So when you look at (overall), it looks slow,” added the opener.

“The most important thing for the player is what the captain, coach and teammates think of him and we know what is expected of each person. We have created an environment where players are not afraid to fail or not afraid to make mistakes,” he added.

Advantage during chase

In the T20s since 2018, the chasing team has won seven out of 11 matches at the ground. On the eve of the match, Finch said the wicket had “a bit of grass on it”.