Internet Desk: High on confidence Indian cricket team will look to seal the T20 series against Australia when the two teams face each other in the second T20I at the ACA Barsapara Stadium which will host it’s first International match tomorrow. Virat Kohli & Co. are leading the series 1-0 in the three match T20 rubber and a win tomorrow will help them to seal the series against the Aussies.
Till now the limited overs series has been a one-sided contest as they have already won the ODI series 4-1.
The Men in Blue continued their domination in the T20 series too as they won the first match emphatically by 9 wicktes at Ranchi couple of days back.
In the head-to-head affair India too is way ahead against the Aussies as they have won 10 out of 14 games against them. They also continued winning run of seven matches on the trot and the Men in Blue lost a T20I against them back in September 28, 2012.
The visitors will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat if they are to arrest their slide and level the series ahead of the last T20I in Hyderabad on October 13.
For that to happen, the visitors will have to crack the mystery element in India’s latest wrist spin twin Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal who have a share of 16 wickets among them in four ODIs and one T20I.
The duo have been the big difference between the two sides as the Aussies have failed to read their variations and looked inept in the conditions.
It’s surprising for the fact that most of their batsmen are familiar with the conditions having played in the Indian Premier League but it’s their lack of application that is posing a big threat.
On the other hand India team members are complementing each other well, be it in batting or bowling.
It was evident in Ranchi also when Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah started leaking runs in the middle after Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Warner in the first over.
But before it could go out of their hands, Chahal gave the breakthrough in his very first over, dismissing Glenn Maxwell for the fourth time in a row.
Then it was chinaman bowler Yadav’s turn to terrorise the visitors with wickets of Finch and Mosies Henriques in a careerbest haul of 2/16.
Bumrah too returned among wickets with a twin blow as Aussies began to crumble at 118/8 in 18.4 overs when rain truncated the contest to six overs giving India an easy DLS target of 48 that they mowed down with three balls to spare.
The Aussies batting has mostly revolved around the top three of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, and with the skipper ruled out of the T20I series with a shoulder injury, it would be a challenge to counter the spin-challenge and bounce back in the series.
The Aussies would also hope that Maxwell return among runs after a pathetic run of 39, 14, 5 in the ODIs and 17 in the T20I.
That all of Maxwell’s dismissals has come against Chahal underlines the allrounder’s inability to tackle leg-spin as he would be desperate to come out of his disastrous run.
Thankfully his team is backing him fully.
“We’ve seen him be so dominant, so destructive of attacks in these conditions before. I don’t think he’s far away at all. He’s hitting the ball in the nets, he’s up and about in the field,” Finch said in full support of Maxwell.
It would also be interesting to see how Finch tackles Yadav this time after being guarded in Ranchi choosing to play only in sweep before being cleaned up with a fuller delivery.
Nathan Coulter-Nile, who with 10 wickets was the wicket taker in the ODI series, has been the silver-lining for the Aussies while leftarm pacer Jason Behrendorff also showed some promise in his debut in Ranchi.
Aussies would hope that the pace duo rock the Indian batting who had little match practice in a six-over contest in Ranchi.
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan returned in Ranchi after opting out of the ODI series as the Aussies would look to unsettle him and fancy their chances against Rohit Sharma the top run-getter of the ODI series.
But from the Indian perspective, it was pleasing to see Dhawan picking up the length early and played the pull shot suggesting that the in-form Ajinkya Rahane’s absence would not be missed.
Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli steered the small chase in Ranchi as India would hope that their untested middleorder finds their feet quickly should their be a top order collapse.
There may be some surprise element from the pitch which will be hosting a first International match.
The ACA-Barsapara Stadium made headlines in the last Ranji season when Hyderabad bowled out Himachal Pradesh for 36, the fourth-lowest total in the Ranji Trophy since 2000 as none of their batsman could get to a double digit score.
Hyderabad seamers M Ravi Kiran and Chama Milind ripped the top order before legspinner Akash Bhandari snared four wickets to demolish the tail.
“This is one of the most-challenging surfaces I’ve played on this season,” Himachal middle-order batsman Robin Bist had remarked as Australia in particular would be wary of the unknown territory.
Cricket is coming back to Guwahati after a gap of seven years as the excitement is apparent with a heavy demand for tickets at a time the city is also hosting group E matches of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
Teams (from)
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra, Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul and Axar Patel.
Australia: David Warner (c), Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.