Ranchi : India on Saturday won the toss and elected to field first against Australia in the first T20 match of the three-match series, which is to be played at Ranchi’s JSCA (Jharkhand State Cricket Association) Stadium Complex.
Former Indian captain and star batsman Sunil Gavaskar termed the pitch as damp and said the ball will remain low on this wicket due to dew. He said that batsmen will struggle to get under the ball.
Coming on the back of a comfortable five-match ODI series win, India will aim to extend their dominance over Australia in the opening T20I match.
India, who clinched the ODI series against Australia 4-1 to reclaim the number one spot in the ICC rankings, will be riding high on confidence and will aim for a perfect finish to the campaign with the T20I series.
Australia, on the other hand, will look to get back to the winning rhythm with the Ashes coming up in a month’s time.
The Virat Kohli-led side will be boosted by the return of veteran pacer Ashish Nehra, batsman Dinesh Karthik and opener Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 squad.
Playing XI India
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Capt), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah
Playing XI Australia
1. David Warner (Capt), Aaron Finch, Travis Head, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Dan Christian, Tim Paine (WK), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tie, Jason Behrendorff. (ANI)