India will kick off their final preparations for the T20 World Cup when they take on defending champions Australia in a bilateral series at home. The series opener will be played on Tuesday, September 20, at the IS Bindra, Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali.
The Rohit Sharma and Aaron Finch-led side have announced their squads for the marquee events and will hope to build momentum heading into the mega event. The two teams will also hope to finalise their first-choice playing XIs and fill the gaps in their respective teams.
Ahead of the first game, the net sessions witnessed something interesting as senior batter and ex-India skipper Virat Kohli was seen bowling in the nets. The official social media accounts of PCA shared pictures of Kohli rolling his arm over for an extended period and posted these photos with a caption saying 'Look who’s opening bowling tomorrow.'
Kohli bowled one over in India's victory over Hong Kong in the group stage fixture of the recently concluded Asia Cup.
Tough calls to make
Having kept their full complement of players from the Asia Cup, it will be interesting to see the Playing XI for the side. The ones that play the T20Is against Australia and South Africa will probably be the final ones and will hope to sort out the issue ahead of their mega opening match against Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
The top-four are pretty much fixed but questions will be raised about the role of wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the playing eleven. With Ravindra Jadeja injured, we might see India keep the left-handed Pant over Karthik who is a designated finisher in the squad.
The conditions in Australia will be vastly different from here and the management will go about its business keeping that in mind.
Squads
Australia T20 World Cup Squad
Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
India T20 World Cup Squad
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav.
