Thanks to the influx of fresh talent and captain Suryakumar Yadav’s return to form, formidable India is full of energy as they head to the massive MCG for the second Twenty20 International against Australia on Friday.
With their unrelenting power-hitting, players like Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Shivam Dube reinvented the art of T20 batting before arriving in Australia. However, the team has recently suffered from a dearth of big runs from their captain’s blade.
Suryakumar, who was under pressure going into the first game of the five-match series, bounced back to form with a 24-ball 39, and his massive 125-meter six off Josh Hazlewood will live on in memory for a very long time.
Rain ultimately prevailed in Canberra, though, as the game was called off with India firmly positioned at 97 for one after 9.4 overs and both Shubman Gill and Suryakumar in the mood to destroy the Australian attack.
Rain is again predicted for Friday in Melbourne, but the visitors will try to continue where they left off in the postponed series opener without fretting about uncontrollable circumstances.
As the team continues on its World Cup journey with its high-risk, high-reward strategy put in place by head coach Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar’s return to form must have cheered Indian hearts the most going into the second game.
Gambhir wants his team to consistently aim for totals of more than 250 or 260, and he wouldn’t mind if they were bowled out for 120–130 in the process and lost a few games.
Months before the T20 World Cup begins in India and Sri Lanka, where the “Men in Blue” will attempt to defend the championship they won in the Americas last summer, their explosive batting in recent months is an obvious sign that the batters have adopted Gambhir’s mindset.
Although India get to bowl in Canberra, they are proud of the skill of Jasprit Bumrah and the cunning of Varun Chakravarthy, with players like Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel making a formidable assault that can even protect a short score should the batters fail to fire.
However, they will face formidable opponents like Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, who have previously caused problems for India.
Australia’s T20 format, which emphasizes playing attacking cricket regardless of the match scenario, is quite similar to the Indian team’s. They have players like Josh Iglis, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Head, and Marsh who can execute difficult chases or score large totals.
The bowling seems a little lacking in experience with pace ace Micthell Starc retiring from Twenty20 Internationals and Pat Cummins recuperating from an injury. Hazlewood will have to spearhead the attack, which includes Xavier Bartlett, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Nathan Ellis, among others.
Teams (from):
India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott (games 1-3), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman (games 3-5), Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (games 1-2), Glenn Maxwell (games 3-5), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis
