After a high-scoring thriller in Mohali, the action moves to Nagpur as India take on Australia in the second T20I of the three-match series on Friday, September 23.
Match Preview
India put on yet another terrific batting show in the first T20I as they posted a total of 208 after being asked to bat first. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya scored superb fifties whereas Suryakumar Yadav also impressed with an excellent knock of 46. But India’s death-bowling woes and poor fielding came back to haunt them once again as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel got carted all around the ground in the final four overs, with Matthew Wade and Tim David taking Australia home. Rohit Sharma will be expecting a much better performance from them going into this second match.
Australia, on the other hand, would be delighted with the result from the first T20I. They won from an unlikely situation and that must have boosted their confidence a lot. But they still need to improve a lot in terms of bowling as the Indian batters dominated them throughout their 20 overs. Many of their bowlers bowled a lot of length balls in the previous match and that is something they will be looking to cut down going into this encounter.
Possible Playing XIs
India
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
Australia
Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Key Players
Hardik Pandya
The all-rounder showed why he is regarded as one of India’s best players in this format. He made an unbeaten 71 off just 30 deliveries in the last game and also bowled pretty well. Pandya will be looking to deliver with both bat and ball in this match.
Cameron Green
The youngster has been in great form of late. Green scored 61 off just 30 balls on being promoted to the top of the order in the last match and also picked up a wicket earlier in the match. Australia will be backing him to deliver an equally good performance in this match.
Prediction
India may have lost the first T20I but they are a quality team and will be desperate to bounce back in this match. The batters are in form and now the onus will be on the bowlers to deliver. Australia also had luck going a lot in their favour in the last match as the Indian fielders dropped many catches. Things might not turn out in the same way this time and India can be backed as the favourites to win this match.
