India climbed all over Australia in the opening T20 of their ongoing three match series in Adelaide on Tuesday and MS Dhoni’s charges will have the chance to secure the series with a game to spare when the two meet for the second time in Melbourne on Friday.
Australia will know that it is two matches in a row that India have won after the tourists won the final ODI as well and that is a run of wins they will be looking to put to an end here. We saw in that first game the problems they have to iron out ahead of the World T20 – the ability to score against spin.
Although the ICC World T20 is fast approaching Australia have still chosen to rest a couple of their stars ahead of the tour of New Zealand next month. That is a bit of a surprise especially as neither Steve Smith nor Dave Warner played in the Big Bash so both are short of 20 over cricket.
Glenn Maxwell could be fit to return for one of them while Shaun Marsh would be the natural replacement for Warner. It would be pointless to pick Shaun Tait for just one game so he is likely to retain his place but John Hastings could come in for Kane Richardson on his home ground.
India are starting to build up a head of steam on this tour now. A large part of that has been the exceptional form of Virat Kohli. He was dismissive of all the bowlers in Adelaide and will be looking to follow that up here. All of a sudden things look rosy for Dhoni’s men.
Unless India want to bring Harbhajan Singh into their side I wouldn’t expect too many changes from the opening match. It might be they look to win the series and then make changes to give everyone a game. If they do change things Hardik Pandya could be the obvious one to make way.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground just played host to the Big Bash League final which was a high scoring contest and if both teams are clever this should be equally high scoring.
In all there have been eight T20 internationals on this ground. Australia have a 6-2 record in them which is pretty emphatic. India have a win and a loss from their two visits here. Australia won the ODI between the two on this ground last week.
Rain is forecast in the lead up to this match but the showers are expected to disappear before the off so as long as the outfield is dry I expect India to win here.
I don’t usually bet pre-match at the MCG because the vast open areas are tough to defend but the way Australia played the spinners in the first match was a big concern and the dimensions of the ground make no difference when you’re not getting it off the square.
India looked in fine touch with the bat in the opening game and you get the feeling they will score runs whether they are setting or chasing. I’m not so sure about Australia scoring against spin especially if they are chasing so I’ll side with the Indians here.
Back India to win 2nd T20 for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Skybet
Blog cricket YTD: +7.1pts
