By BD Naraayannkar Dec 01, 2023
Raipur/UNI: Captain Suryakumar Yadav would aim to wrap up the five-match T20I series in Indias favour against Australia in the fourth match at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here on Friday.
At present India are leading 2-1 in the series, after winning the first two matches and losing the high-scoring last game in Guwahati.
In todays match, Team India will try to take advantage of the absence of Glenn Maxwell, who single-handedly won the third match for Australia with his blistering 104 runs innings, coming off just 48 balls.
Steve Smith and Adam Zampa also returned home after a hectic ICC Mens ODI World Cup campaign.
However, India bowlers will face a new set of destructive batters like Tim David, Josh Phillip and Ben McDermott, who have been putting on a good show in the limited overs format.
Giving them strength will be Travis Head who played an unforgettable innings in the World Cup finals against India, an experienced captain Mathew Wade who played a very handy innings in the last match.
Shreyas Iyers return will add some more spice to India batting, with the top order firing all guns in the three matches played so far.
The only exception was Tilak Varma, who did not fire as expected, and is likely to lose his place to the star India batsman who had an excellent outing in the World Cup.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Captain Surya and Rinku Singh have been exceptional, and are certain to retain their place.
Deepak Chahars inclusion would do a world of good for India in bowling department as he is a very useful new-ball bowler, and Mukesh Kumars reentry after attending his wedding ceremony will bolster death-bowling prospects.
It is time for Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan to be consistent, and bring in some variety including hurling yorkers in their bowling armoury.
Teams
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
Australia: Travis Head, Matt Short, Aaron Hardie, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade(w/c), Tim David, Chris Green, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha.