PREVIEW: There's been a major push by the Canberrans in the lead-up to the Indian team's visit to the capital to try and promote as many of the local businesses as possible. Starting of course with the beer. And the Manuka Oval was served well for the third ODI on Wednesday with a lot of the city's brewers getting a chance to showcase their frothy wares. The drive to push the locals to the forefront has been led by the Australian Capital Territory's Chief Minister Andrew Barr himself.
But as Australia and India kick off their three-match T20I series on Friday (December 4), you wouldn't expect just the locals but a lot of those from Sydney to drive down to not just watch the cricket but also do justice to the local brews on offer. The tickets for this game like with most of the white-ball ones involving India were sold out nearly the day they were announced. And though there will be a lot of Indian fans on view, which is now become so much of a norm that it'll soon not even warrant a mention, there's expected to be decent support for the Australians too. We are just about on the cusp of the Big Bash League (BBL) and the three games over the next five days - the next two will be played at the SCG - will act as the perfect appetiser for that. This is the closest after all that Aussie fans will get to see some of India's biggest stars in T20 action.
This series was originally slated to be played as a warm-up for the T20 World Cup which will now take place in Australia only two years later. But the two teams will now use this opportunity to further settle their respective squads in preparation for next year's event in India. It's been a mixed bag of a year for the two in T20I cricket. Australia ended up losing their top spot to England after having dominated all comers last summer. India meanwhile clean-swept the Kiwis by a 5-0 margin in New Zealand and most of their players are coming off a decent showing in the IPL. Some of them like Deepak Chahar, Washington Sundar and Sanju Samson have been with the Indian squad from the time they arrived on these shores, but they've overall gone largely unnoticed.
The Aussies have been hit by a string of injuries and won't be full-strength, like they weren't for the third ODI. The T20Is series is placed interestingly between the ODIs, which everyone was looking forward to as the start of the most highly-billed tour in 2020 and the all-important Test series. But there'll be no lack of interest or intent either in Canberra or when the teams return to Sydney.
When: Friday, December 4, 2020. 19:10 Local Time, 13.40 IST
Where: Manuka Oval, Canberra
What to expect: India might have started a tad slowly on Wednesday but Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya showed just why the Canberra pitch is rated as being one of the best for batsmen in Australia. The nation's capital is also where the temperatures really drop later in the evening. But it shouldn't stop the frenzy of fours and sixes, which you'd expect both teams to produce in high quantity, especially with one of the boundaries expected to be shorter than the other.
Team News
Australia:
Matthew Wade had replaced Alex Carey for the third T20I in England but it looks likely that both wicket-keepers will get a go. Australia like to play both their spinners in the shortest format, and you'd expect them to stick with that combination, especially after their very eye-catching showing in the final ODI. Mitchell Starc was seen walking around the Manuka Oval without any discomfort late on Thursday evening. That should mean he starts on Friday.
India:
T Natarajan's impressive ODI debut should lead to a T20I debut on Friday. You'd also expect Deepak Chahar to start while KL Rahul returns to the opening slot, vacating his spot in the middle for Manish Pandey, who had a good tour of New Zealand. The question remains whether Washington Sundar gets a go but Jadeja's match-winning exploits in the third ODI might mean the RCB all-rounder waits his turn.
Teams:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul(w), Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Shami
Australia: Aaron Finch(c), Matthew Wade, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey(w), Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Andrew Tye, Marnus Labuschagne, D Arcy Short, Cameron Green, Daniel Sams, Marcus Stoinis
