After a pretty one-sided ODI series while it was a live competitive proposition, Australia and India head into three T20 matches on Friday with plenty at stake as the preparation for the World T20 next year continues for both sides.
Australia won that ODI series 2-1 but you got the impression that they weren’t all that interested in the third game. They will be here so it will be interesting to see if they continue to dominate or if India have a better time of it in the shorter format.
Australia
The last time we saw Australia in a T20 series they were in England and being competitive in a 2-1 loss at the Ageas Bowl in Hampshire. It was the strength of their bowlers that made them a tough nut to crack over in England but in the ODI series last week it was their batsmen who got the job done for them. It will be intriguing to see if it is their bowlers that deliver the goods here or their batsmen, but they could still have their work cut out here.
We have to get used to sides being below full strength at times at the minute with the bubbles and restrictions and things like that and Australia are taking this part of their busy summer to give a rest to a few key players. Those coming in cold will need to hit the ground running but teams will be beginning to prepare for the Big Bash so they shouldn’t be alien to the 20 over format, which will be important given the Indian side are coming off the IPL.
India
Although they lost the ODI matches, you’ve got to think India have a couple of advantages going into this opening T20. The first of those is that the ODI which they won was here at Manuka Oval. A much bigger advantage than that though comes in the fact that their whole squad have not long come off of playing two months of T20 cricket in the Indian Premier League. I suspect that could be the telling difference in this opening match, if not the series as a whole.
This might be the best of the two limited overs formats for India because it is the one where their lack of batting depth hurts them the least. They have a number of what I call bits and pieces players who have a far better impact in this form. The other thing that makes them more effective in this format is their mystery spinners are more in the game with players having to come after them. In 50 overs there tends to be a bowler who gets carted.
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Team News
David Warner and Pat Cummins have been rested for Australia for this game while Marnus Labuschagne has an injury and there are doubts over the fitness of Ashton Agar. Matthew Wade could open the batting with Sean Abbott and Andrew Tye battling to replace Cummins.
India will be going in a lot closer to full strength here which is one of the positives of touring. Having to keep everyone in the same bubble means that there is no coming and going or anything like that. KL Rahul will opening the batting with Manish Pandey potentially coming into the middle order.
Betting
I like India in this opening match. I would have liked them best XI against best XI but the fact that Australia are giving a couple of players a rest I like the tourists even more. David Warner had a decent ODI series so his absence is going to be felt here whereas if anything India are likely to be stronger with Rahul up the top of the order and a couple of T20 specialists coming into the side in Washington Sundar and Deepak Chahar.
Australia have some big grounds for them but they don’t play at Canberra very often so I’m not sure there will be too much of a conditional advantage for the home side here. India looked to come alive in that third ODI and while you can never truly tell with dead rubbers, the fact there is a World T20 to prepare for coupled with a bit of positive energy to take into the Test series I expect the visitors to be bang on it here and win the first game.
Tips
WON – Back India to beat Australia for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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