India would be fielding their oldest T20 side tomorrow, with the likes of Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh in the playing eleven. But surprisingly, it may just be the smartest decision taken by the selectors in years – because this Indian team has something that’s hard to find in T20 cricket – control and experience.
It’s not all about oldies – there’s a young lad, hardly 20 years of age, Jasprit Bumrah, who bowls with a strange action and still manages to get a lot of pace and control. Young Virat Kohli has grown into something of a sensation – easily the best Indian batsman since Sachin Tendulkar quit the game.
There are a plenty of decent T20 players in the Indian side, old molded by years of IPL experience. India may not be the best side at one day internationals – but when it comes to T20s, they are as good as it gets.
Australia had no answer to India’s band of IPL superstars in the first T20 clash early this week. Yes, they did get Shaun Tait, who is still the fastest bowler in the world, after coming back into international cricket following a 3 and a half year absence.
[table id=33 /]
Tait was able to bowl with great pace in the first T20, even touching 150 kmh, but he was largely ineffective. Indians are not scared of pace – what worries them is pace with movement – with Mitchell Starc is capable of generating. But fortunately for them, Starc is injured and will not feature in this series.
And what to say about the Australian batting? Given that they are keeping Usman Khawaja – who is in the form of his life – out, they musr be really quite good. They are, for sure. But one fails to understand why Khawaja doesn’t feature in the Australian T20 setup. There are a plenty of players in the Australian side who are rather average, and really don’t deserve to get selected ahead of someone like Khawaja.
Australia do have three match winners at the top in Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith. But there many who feel Finch puts too much pressure on the other batsman by always looking for big shots and neglecting to rotate the strike. This is something Finch has to be aware of, especially considering that he is the captain of the T20 side. There’s always a readymade replacement for him in Usman Khawaja.
India would expect a lot from Ravi Ashwin, who went AWOL in the ODI series. Ashwin did well in the first T20, taking the crucial wickets of Warner and Smith. He is a star IPL performer and T20 cricket is pretty much up his alley.
For Australia, Glenn Maxwell is expected to come back into the side after missing the first match due to an injury. His presence will be welcome as he is perhaps the most destructive T20 batsman in world cricket today.
The Teams
Australia: 1 Aaron Finch (capt.), 2 Shane Watson, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Chris Lynn, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Travis Head , 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Nathan Lyon/ Cameron Boyce, 10 Kane Richardson/ John Hastings, 11 Shaun Tait.
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish Nehra.
Match Conditions
It’s going to rain runs at the MCG tomorrow, that’s for sure. The question is who has the batting power to make more.
Watch India take on Australia in the 2nd T20 at 2:08 pm tomorrow on Star Sports!
