Match: India v Australia, 1st T20I
Date: 7 October
Time: 7:00 pm IST/ 2:30 pm BST/ 9:30 pm SGT/ 12:30 am ACT (Next Day)
Venue: JSCA Stadium, Ranchi
Live Streaming: Live streaming will be available on Hotstar for Indian audience and Sky Sports in UK.
Preview
After winning the ODI series comfortably, India will play their first match of the T20 series against Australia on 7 October at JSCA Stadium in Ranchi, Saturday.
Both teams have played One Day International from 17 September to 1 October. While the hosts triumphed in the 50 overs format with four wins, the visitors managed to win only one match out of five ODIs.
Australia could give a chance to their all-rounder Daniel Christian to play a T20 international against India. The 34-year-old has not played a T20I since April 2014, where he performed against Bangladesh at Shere Bangla National Stadium.
He played in the 2016-17 Big Bash League, which is a Twenty20 cricket tournament introduced by Cricket Australia. The league helped Christian to get back on the track of T20.
However, including Christian there are other players who did not play in the ODIs such as Moises Henriques, Jason Behrendorff and Tim Paine. So they might get a chance to show their capabilities and join the Australia XI.
On the other hand, there is a possibility to see the Indian bowler Ashish Nehra to make a comeback inT20I possible XI. On 1 February 2017, He played the last twenty-twenty match against England at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Now the focus will be on the decision of the team whether it selects the 38-year-old Nehra or other bowlers with same qualities such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Even, K. L. Rahul and Axar Patel might receive a place in the team.
Possible XI
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt), KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith (capt), Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Tim Paine (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Jason Behrendorff.
Broadcasters and Live Streaming:
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Sports
UK:Sky Sports Cricket
