In seven months’ time, the T20 World Cup will be held in the US and the West Indies. And the two finalists of the title clash in Ahmedabad — India and Australia — with just a handful of players who played in that final, have been the first to hit the ground running for the next big ICC event with a five-match T20 series.Team India’s aspirants for the T20 World Cup showed that they wouldn’t be intimidated by the opposition nor by the enormity of the challenge when they pulled off Men in Blue’s highest ever successful run-chase in a last-ball thriller against Australia in the first T20 in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.And they will carry that confidence into the second game here at the Greenfield Stadium on Sunday when they take on the Matthew Wade-led Australia.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan were the chief protagonists of the win in Vizag as they launched a blistering counterattack after the early dismissal of the openers. While Yadav showed he is a different beast in T20 with a 42-ball 80, Kishan demonstrated his destructive power with a blazing 39-ball 58.
The team management, however, would have been happier with the composure shown by Rinku Singh, who hit a crucial unbeaten 22 to help India get over the line. However, the ineffectiveness of the bowlers in the middle overs would be a point to ponder for the coaching staff led by VVS Laxman. They would be hoping for a course correction in the second game.
Only Mukesh Kumar’s death-over bowling stood out in the first T20, though he went wicketless in the game. Left-arm Pacer Arshdeep Singh would have pleasant memories of the pitch at Greenfield as he had exploited the swinging conditions to claim three wickets and restrict the South Africans to just 106 when a T20I was last played here more than a year ago.
Though the pitch for Sunday’s game may not be as conducive for the bowlers as the one that was laid out for the last T20 that was played here, the bowlers would be praying that it helps them more than the one in Vizag.
For Australia, Josh Inglis came up with a blistering ton and Steve Smith enhanced his T20 prospects with a half-century in the first game. But the inexperience of their bowling attack was exposed on Thursday and it may prompt a change in personnel.
The World Cup stars — Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head and Adam Zampa — didn’t play the first game in Vizag but they are very much available for the second game if the Aussie team management desires to field them.
The biggest concern before any game in this part of the world is the weather. Torrential rain on Wednesday resulted in a deluge in some parts of Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, though the Greenfield Stadium remained largely unaffected. It was pretty hot and humid when the Australians arrived for an optional practice session on Saturday afternoon.