Australia’s limited-overs tour of India begins with a T20 International that will be played on a flat-bed in Rajkot. We’ll have live scores from midnight.
Many Australian fans have termed this as an almost unnecessary tour, especially on the back of a gruelling three-month long series in England and given they play their traditional rivals again in less than 45 days.
Cricket overkill is an obvious concern but more vitally, this series deprives those on tour to miss out on the first few rounds of a rather weirdly-scheduled Sheffield Shield.
On the other hand, in this day and age of scheduling issues around the ICC FTP, it is only natural that boards will move to fill up any empty space found on the calendar.
In a way, Michael Clarke’s injury and his subsequent withdrawal from this eight-game series works in his favour. He will have the chance to recuperate from his back problem and try and get fit in time for the first Ashes Test.
What it will also do is to allow George Bailey a chance to lead the team in an attempt to become the world’s number one side in the ODI format – at least according to the ICC rankings.
But I digress. The tour begins with a T20I, with Bailey going up against his former Chennai Super Kings teammate and captain MS Dhoni on Thursday.
Rajkot has never hosted a T20I before this but if the scores in the ODIs hosted at this ground – SCAS – and the one very close to it – the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground – are anything to go by, it is going to be a bowlers’ graveyard.
SCAS’s only international match here saw India pile up 325 and had England replying with a 316 of their own.
In the last game played at the Madhavrao Scindia ground, things got worse for the bowlers. India had batted first in that one too and made 414, with Sri Lanka nearly pulling off – they went down by only three runs!
In short, the team that holds its nerve with their bowling and fielding could come out on top for this one too.
The advantage Australia have is some of their players have experienced playing in the recently concluded Champions League t20 in India, so will be used to the conditions.
Interestingly, with four IPL teams taking part in that same tournament, half the Indian side was a part of that competition. Dhoni and Suresh Rain showed good form while Rohit Sharma led his Mumbai Indians to a title win.
It was for the same Mumbai Indians that Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson and Glenn Maxwell played and did well in the competition. Similarly, Shane Watson and James Faulkner turned out for the Rajasthan Royals and featured in the final too.
Australia hold a 4-3 record against the Indians in this format of the game, which isn’t saying much. In their only match played in India, the hosts ran away to an easy win chasing down 167 in 18 overs but that was way back in 2007 too.
Dew could be one of the factors that decides the toss and there’s a good chance the team winning it will opt to chase down the target on this easy pitch. I would also like to think the team batting second will be the favourite here.
Follow the live score of this T20I between India and Australia from midnight AEST. You can post your comments below.
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