India vs Australia, IND vs AUS, Today Match Prediction 20 September 2022

ind vs aus Match Prediction & Analysis

India and Australia are to start the final push before the ICC World T20 Cup with a three-match T20I series. The first T20I will be played at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on 20th September from 7:30 pm onwards. India were knocked out of the Asia Cup earlier after back-to-back losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Australia have won all of their three T20I series since their ICC World T20 2020 win. 

India remained unbeaten in the group stage games of the Asia Cup. But they couldn’t continue their run in the Super-4 stage. On chasing-friendly pitches, they lost to Pakistan by 5 wickets and to Sri Lanka by 6 wickets on the penultimate ball of the last over of both games. But they beat Afghanistan by 101 runs in the final game after registering a total of 212 in the first innings. Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the batting and bowling charts respectively from India.

The World T20 champions Australia have won 7 out of the 9 games played this year (including one tie game). In their last series, they beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka by 2-1. Josh Hazelwood and David Warner were the leading players in their respective departments in Australia’s win over Sri Lanka. While Aaron Finch was named man of the series for his 114 runs in 3 games.

The last time when Australia visited India, they won the two-match series 2-0.  And they are yet to lose a T20I series in India since 2007. How odd is that! But this series will be difficult for Australia as India is playing their full strength selected for the World Cup. For India, the series will be part of their 8 practice matches before the World Cup. 

Will Australia manage to keep their T20I record in India alive, especially when they are starting the series at Mohali where the hosts have a 100% win ratio?

TEAMS PREVIEW

India Preview

Targeting ICC World T20 2022 which will be held next month in Australia, India will be going with full strength against Australia. Skipper Rohit Sharma will be happy to see his fast-bowling attack now complete with the comeback of Jaspreet Bumrah and Harshal Patel. Both Bumrah and Patel missed the Asia Cup.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will open the innings for India. Though Virat Kohli scored a century while opening against Afghanistan, Sharma will keep his faith in Rahul who also scored a half-century in the same game. Sharma’s average is below 23 against Australia in 19 games. The same can be said for Rahul who averages 29.28 against Australia with a sub-par strike rate of 129.74. Here is the happy news. Virat Kohli’s form in the Aisa Cup crashed the internet. He scored 276 runs in the 5 matches at an average of 92 and a strike rate of 147.59. His innings included 2 half-centuries and a century - the one he was missing for the last two years. Suryakumar Yadav will continue to play at the number 4 position. Though his form tailed a little in the Aisa Cup, he managed to score at a strike rate of 163.52.

India is still finding the solution to place a perfect middle-order. Hardik Pandya’s place is fixed in the squad as he comes with 331 runs at a strike rate of 142 and 12 wickets with the ball. Since there is no left-hander in the top 5, India is choosing Pant over Dinesh Karthik. Both have an ideal strike rate of 133 this year, but Karthik’s innings came at the crucial phases of the game. They both have a bad reputation playing against Australia. Pant has 24 runs in 4 innings while DK has 69 in 5 innings. The injury to Ravindra Jadeja has opened the doors for Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin in the team.

With Bumrah and Harshal Patel back in the attack, Bhuvi will get all the support from the other end. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the leading wicket-taker of the Asia Cup with 11 wickets and he is also India’s leading wicket-taker this year with 31 wickets in 22 games. Bumrah hasn’t played many T20I since last year. But his record against Australia (15 wickets in 11 games) and in India (economy of 6.4) shows that there is no issue with him taking the lead. 

Key Players: Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

India Predicted Playing XI:

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

India Actual Playing XI:

YS Chahal, Lokesh Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel

Australia Preview

Australia will be missing Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh, and Marcus Stoinis. Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams, and Sean Abbott have been called up as their replacements. Skipper Aaron Finch will open the innings with David Warner. Aaron finch is the leading run-scorer for Australia this year while Warner has scored 140 runs in just 3 games played this year. Glenn Maxwell at number three will be problematic for India. In the last series against India in India, Maxwell scored 169 runs in just 2 games at a strike rate of 172.44. He remained unbeaten in both the games scoring a century and a half-century. 

Steve Smith will be under pressure to justify his spot on the team. But his recent century after a gap of 2 years must give him some confidence to go berserk against India. Tim David has been finally called into the squad. David is a terrific middle-order power hitter. He has been absolutely fantastic in all T20 Leagues across the world with a strike rate of more than 160. Josh Inglis will be included over Matthew Wade.

Josh Hazelwood will lead the bowling unit with Pat Cummins and Nathan Elis. Hazelwood is Australia’s leading wicket-taker this season with 14 wickets with an economy of less than 7. Ellis had an impressive season in the T20 Blast and The Hundred. He has 4 wickets in the only T20I played for Australia too. Adam Zampa will be the ideal choice as a specialist spinner. 

Key Players: David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazelwood.
 

Australia Predicted Playing XI:

Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazelwood, Steve Smith, Tim David, Josh Inglis, Adam Zampa, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Kane Richardson.

Australia Actual Playing XI:

Timothy David, Aaron Finch, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The weather will be sunny and clear with no chance of rain. The temperature will range between 25 and 33°C. The wind will be flowing from the west at 6-7 kmh. The pitch favors batters throughout the game. It is difficult to score runs in the first innings but becomes smoother as the bowl comes on the bat easily without any assistance from the pitch.

Venue Details

The 1st T20I of between India and Australia will be played at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. The venue holds a capacity of 30000 spectators and has hosted 14 tests, 25 ODIs & 5 T20I so far. It is the home ground for Punjab Kings. India has recorded the highest total of 211 at this ground against Sri Lanka.

Toss: To Bowl

In 5 T20Is, teams have successfully chased the target on 3 occasions. This includes India’s 6-wicket win over Australia while chasing 160 runs. The team batting first has been victorious 2 times. Therefore team winning the toss should bowl first.