Covid-19 has hit the world harder than anything; everyone in almost every part of the world was forced to stay at home, and all sorts of sports activities were denied. There rose an idea of playing behind closed doors which worked brilliantly and fans got a chance to watch their favorite stars in action which provided people with a lot of hope and entertainment in such difficult times. A few cricket playing nations have already hosted some big events and bilateral series to get going in these hard times. Pakistan toured England for Test and ODI series, and BCCI hosted Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates; though it happed way far from home, fans enjoyed it just like it was played in their backyard. Now a lot of schedules are out and fans will enjoy a full cricket season. Entertainment is not ending for Indian fans as after a big edition of the Indian Premier League, India is all set to tour Australia for a 2 months long tour where all superstars will showcase their talent.
The action will start with a 3-match ODI series followed by a 3-match T20 series while the last part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played in the shape of a test series from 17th December. 30 men squad of the Indian team has already arrived there and spent their time in quarantine to maintain the biosecure bubble.
It is going to be a home series for Australia who has not played a lot of cricket this year but it does not mean that one should underestimate their power and ability as they become the hell of a strong team on their home soil and India has not beaten them for so many times on their home grounds.
Indian team looks good in the practice sessions and they have spent enough time in Australia that they are very familiar with Aussie conditions. Skipper Virat Kohli looked very confident in one of the recent press conferences as he said that they are looking towards victory. A big question was on the current form of Rohit Sharma who badly failed in the Indian Premier League, and his record in test cricket is also not that good. Rohit Sharma has recently given an interview to a local newspaper and said that fans are going to see the best of Rohit Sharma in this series, and he is happy to bat where the team wants him to bat.
There was a big question for Indian batting that how they are planning to face the bouncers which have always troubled the Indian Batsmen on Australian pitches, which traditionally offers a bounce and swing. Rohit Sharma seems to have other views; on this question who reminded the reporter that not so many Indian batsmen got out on a bouncer in the last series; there was the spinner Nathan Lyon who picked up 8 wickets. Even in Perth, the bouncers were not so effective as they created very little damage for Indian batting.
Virat Kohli will return to India after a few games as he and his wife Anushka Sharma are expecting their first baby, so he will have to fulfill his family duty. A heart-breaking piece of news came for Indian pacer Muhammad Siraj as well; he was informed that his father passed away but he stood firm and refused to go back saying that he is on national duty.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell believes that the Indian team will struggle in the absence of their captain Virat Kohli as his absence will create a big hole in their batting strength which cannot be filled so easily. Chappell has a strong opinion that it will create a dilemma for Indian team management to find a replacement for Kohli at number 4, moreover, it will be hard for them to find an alternate captain for the team.
There were a few up and down performances for the Australian white-ball skipper Aaron Finch who struggled throughout the Indian Premier League; the coach Andrew McDonald is fully confident that Finch will get his form back in the upcoming series against India. In one of his recent interviews with West Australian, the Aussie coach said, “Aaron didn’t have the IPL he would have liked. He struggled a little bit during the IPL and I think he’s got his game back under control. He probably wasn’t hitting the ball as well as what he would have liked and there are some certain things he always works on and comes back to when he goes through those patches … little technical and mindset things,”
There is another good piece of news for Australian Cricket fans as Cricket Australia has signed a new deal with streaming platform LIVENow which will telecast live action in 70 countries across Europe and Asia. The deal includes all of the matches including the upcoming India vs. Australia series as well as Big Bash and Women’s Big Bash. All international matches including both Big Bashes will be telecasted live in 50 European countries including France and Germany while the 2 BBL tournaments will be available in 15 Asian countries including Singapore and Honk Kong.
This fact is very interesting that despite having a great legacy in batting, there are only 4 players who could score a century in Australia both in ODIs and long format. The first one came from the bat of Sourav Ganguly who smashed 2 ODI centuries followed by a test ton. The second was Indian Legend who scored a century in Australia followed by VVS Luxman and Virat Kohli.
Indian Team Squads: –
Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur
Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj
Four additional bowlers – Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel, and T. Natarajan – will travel with the Indian contingent.
