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Debasis Sen, Visakhapatnam: As Virat Kohli and his boys take on the Australians in the first T20I at the ACA VDCA stadium here, all eyes will be on Vijay Shankar. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder included in both the T20 and ODI teams against the Aussies, bowled full steam at the India nets alongside Umesh Yadav on Saturday. The 28-year-old all-rounder figures prominently in India's World Cup plans as he was seen having a brief chat with selection committee chairman MSK Prasad during the practice session. Seniors like MS Dhoni was seen giving their valuable inputs to the batting all rounder during the nets. So far in his brief career Vijay Shankar has been impressive more with his batting rather than his bowling. If Virat Kohli can consistently get four to five overs from him, it will be a huge bonus for the side. Shankar has showed that he is a capable batsman, having scored 45 off 64 deliveries in a match-winning 98-run stand with Ambati Rayudu after the top-order collapse in the final ODI in New Zealand. In the three-match T20I series, Shankar amassed 84 runs with an impressive strike rate of 155.55 but did not get to bowl, something the Indian think tank might asses in the course of the Australia series. With Jasprit Bumrah back to take charge of the pace department along with Umesh, Shankar will look to play the role of the third seamer in absence of Hardik Pandya who's out with a back injury. The Indians had a rigorous practice session on Saturday with the focus on fielding. The entire team took part in an intense fielding drill under fielding coach R Sridhar. Back after the break, captain Virat Kohli was the first to walk into the nets to bat along with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Kohli is on the verge of a unique milestone as he is just 12 runs away from completing 500 runs against Australia in T20Is. If he achieves the feat, he will become the first ever batsmen to do so. The Indian captain has also hit five fifties against Australia in T20Is - the joint-most against an opposition by any player. Another player the selectors will be keeping a close watch will be KL Rahul. The batsman from Karnataka has been impressive in the recent series against England Lions. Rahul is being thought of as the third opener for the World Cup and one good show in this series will confirm his seat in the flight to England. There is nothing much to look into these two T20I’s against the Aussies as the focus of the team management will be to tick all the boxes ahead of the mega event in England starting from May 30.