Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Four Fantastico Battles that could impact the 1st T20 international between India and Australia at Adelaide

India will take on Australia in three T20 matches starting today. As I have written in my match preview these matches will be very important as we march towards the WT20 to be played in India in a couple of months. This series will be a good time to test some young blood and check out the readiness of the fringe players. India will also be looking to give a much better account of themselves by winning the series and taking some confidence going in to the T20 matches that they are slated to play against the Sri Lankans and in the Asia Cup as well.

Given below are 4 sub plots in today’s match that can swing the match in the favour of either team.

Four Fantastico Battles that could decide the course of the First T20 international between India and Australia at Adelaide

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan Vs Shaun Tait

Shaun Tait was once the most feared fast bowler that Australia had. But frequent injuries and loss of control meant that he could never cement a permanent place in the Aussie side. Now, in the absence of Starc and Johnson through injury and retirement, the Australian selectors have turned to Tait again. He has produced good performances in the recently concluded BBL and how the Indian openers fare against his express pace could well set the tone for this match.

Yuvraj Singh Vs James Faulkner and Nathan Lyon

Yuvraj last played for India on that fateful night in Bangladesh when he failed to get the ball off the square in the WT20 final against the Lankans. But now he is back and with an eye on the WT20 2016 he will be looking to produce a strong display. How he copes up with the off spin of Nathan Lyon and the clever changes of pace from James Faulkner could impact how strongly India finish.

David Warner and Aaron Finch Vs Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra has literally barged his way in to the Indian team by giving one good performance after another. He has earned his place but he will be immediately under pressure as bowling to David Warner and Aaron Finch could not be that easy for the returning pacer. On the other hand, if he can manage to snare early wickets then he will surely have gone a long way sealing his place in the team for the WT20 2016.

Steve Smith and Shane Watson Vs the Indian Spinners

India are likely to play two spin bowlers in this game and they will most likely be Ravindra Jadeja and one of Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin. The Australian middle order is a bit weak with the absence of Glenn Maxwell but the Australian skipper Steve Smith and the old fox Shane Watson can put the Indian spinners away with their twinkle toes and powerful slog sweeps. How India fares generally mirrors how their spinners fare so this will be one important battle to keep a close watch on.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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