Australia skipper Aaron Finch will be eager to post a competitive total against India, who can be extremely dangerous with the bat.
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Australia skipper Aaron Finch has won the toss and opted to bat in the warm-up match of the ongoing T20 World Cup against India. Regular skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the encounter, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami the other players joining him on the sidelines. Kohli is still taking the field in the role of a fielder. Rohit Sharma has taken on the captaincy in Kohli’s absence and will be eager to maintain the Indian team’s unbeaten run in the warm-up encounters of the prestigious tournament. India had earlier recorded a comprehensive win against England, in a statement of intent. Australia are similarly full of enthusiasm, after a triumph against New Zealand.
“We will bat first. Batted second in the last game, so looking to change things up a bit. It’s going very well at the moment. Josh Hazlewood is the only one who’ll not take the field today. Mitchell Swepson and Josh Inglis aren’t playing as well,” said Finch as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Rohit admitted that he would have looked to bat as well, after winning the toss.
“Kohli, Bumrah and Shami are resting today. We wanted to bat first as well, just wanted to try and get runs on the board. We want to make sure that we get the 6th bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we’ll try all those things today. Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament. We have quality in the main bowlers, but you need an option for a 6th bowler,” he stated.
Lineups:
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins.
India recorded an impressive victory over England after Kohli won the toss and elected to field. The Three Lions posted 188-5 on the board in 20 overs and India made 192-3 in 19. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul constructed a fine partnership for the first wicket to lead their team to a fine victory. Both openers reached their half-centuries at a quick pace, with Rahul making 51 and Kishan scoring 70.
The match was decided in the 19th over of the second innings which saw England pacer Chris Jordan bowl two no balls which ultimately proved to be costly. Until then, the game was evenly poised. India needed 16 runs off nine balls when Jordan bowled the first of the two illegal deliveries of the over.
Rahul and Kishan gave the men in blue a flying start to the run chase. Both batters scored half-centuries with Rahul making 51 runs off just 24 deliveries and Kishan scoring 70 runs off 46 balls. The latter was not dismissed but retired hurt.
Mohammad Shami might have conceded 40 runs in four overs, but he was India’s highest wicket-taker on the day, bagging four wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar picked one wicket each on the day.
