Daijiworld Media Network - Sports

Rajkot, Oct 10 : Hello and welcome to the only T20I between India and Australia. The match has been built upon as the comeback match for Yuvraj Singh, it should be exciting to see how he goes about after being out of international cricket for almost 10 months. Australia have a few players who took part in the World T20 League and will be looking up for them to perform. India have a solid batting line up and hope that their batsmen can do the job for them

India have won the toss and have opted to field

Dhoni: 'We are looking to bowl first. It looks like a decent track, so we will see how much they score. It has been a batting paradise here so we can expect lot of runs. We have to improve our death bowling and there are other areas we can improve upon. Yuvraj looks leaner and fitter, thats good. No need to tell the way he bats. Mishra, Shami, Rayudu and Unadkat miss out.'

Bailey: 'We had a good training session in Mumbai and few of the boys played the World T20 League. We came here a couple of days ago and have practised well. T20 is challenging and it is about playing our best cricket more often. Nic Maddinson is on debut, Haddin, Doherty and McKay come in.'

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Ishant Sharma

Australia (Playing XI): Nic Maddinson, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, George Bailey(c), Glenn Maxwell, Brad Haddin(w), Moises Henriques, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty

Match preview by Rajarshi Gupta

India and Australia will renew their rivalry with a one-off T20 International in Rajkot, with as many as five of the visiting team having played in the final of the Champions League Twenty20.

The two sides have shared a bitter cricketing relationship and while India blanked the Aussies 4-0 in a Test series earlier this year, Australia had come out on top against the ODI world champions back in 2012 in the World T20 Championship in Sri Lanka when Shane Watson and David Warner blazed away to bat India out of the tournament. Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge; while Warner is not part of the touring side, Watson gave up his vice-captaincy after being sacked from a Test match in India over the 'homework scandal'.

India, meanwhile, have grown stronger, with some young guns replacing the old order and an astute skipper getting shrewder with time. Australia have a lot of work to do and even though, most of the limited overs squad here were not part of the Ashes horror in England, a good performance in India should lift team morale before their colleagues face England in Brisbane for the first Test next month.

India: MS Dhoni's men have been on a rampage this year. After their success in the Tests against Australia, India lifted the Champions Trophy, won a tri-series in the West Indies and traveling to Zimbabwe without some key players, still managed to whitewash the hosts. Younger players, newer faces and fresh talent have rejuvenated a team that was on a downward spiral last year. Many in fact even expect India to steamroll Australia over the next month. However, a lot of the attention, if not all of it, will be on one man. Yuvraj Singh, who is making a comeback to the Indian team after his last ODI against England in January, has been the cynosure of all eyes. India's World Cup here is looking much fitter and leaner after a rigorous training schedule in France; besides the southpaw has roared back to form with a century and two fifties for India 'A' against the West Indies 'A' in the limited overs game before cracking 84 with India Blue, who he led to Challenger Trophy glory.

If Yuvraj comes up with a few good knocks, India will be boosted further - his left-arm spinners are an asset in sub-continental conditions and his experience in the lead up to the World Cup defence which is less than two years away is something the team management could certainly do with.

But there will be 10 other players taking the field besides Yuvraj and the selectors would hope that a long exile (by Indian standards) would not have affected anyone in the squad. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been in fine form at the top of the order, Virat Kohli is easily India's best batsman while Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni are excellent readers of the game. The bowling too looks increasingly stable and Yuvraj bowling in tandem with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will open up a lot of options for Dhoni, who likes to slow things up with his spinners.

Australia: Ian Chappell had questioned the usefulness of the series weeks before the second leg of the Ashes and slammed Cricket Australia for agreeing to send a team to India. The former Australian captain felt that a comprehensive defeat here would demoralise the team before a crucial Test series by exposing their batting frailties in spin-friendly conditions. Brett Lee, however, there is no better preparation than a good, old tough series in India. Aussie vice-captain Brad Haddin also opined that the series in India would be key for his team moving forward.

The Australians, though, have no choice but to play and they will play without their best batsman and skipper , Michael Clarke, who was rested with a chronic back problem returning to haunt him. Replaced in the team by Callum Fergusson and at the helm by George Bailey, Clarke's absence will be a huge draw-back for the Australians, who are also without Darren Lehmann (rested before the Ashes).

But Bailey and stand-in coach Steve Rixon have enough experience in Indian conditions, having spent a lot of time in the IPL. Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mitchell Johnson were part of the final of the CL T20 between Rajasthan and Mumbai (although Johnson was dropped from the playing XI) and it is these cricketers who would be expected to lead Australia's campaign in India over the T20 International and seven ODIs. Watson with his seniority and familiarity of the Indian players will add immense value to the squad and the all-rounder, under a new dispensation, will have a point to prove.

Weather: It has been raining heavily in Rajkot over the last week and the Met department predicted further showers over the next 48 hours, which could threaten the tour opener. However, the Saurashtra Cricket Association remained confident that if the rain stayed away and with excellent drainage facilities at the ground, they would be able to get a game. Fingers crossed!

Pitch: If the rain stays away and the SCA officials keep their promise of a dry ground, the pitch offer a run-fest. This is a good batting track and the wicket is full of runs. It will help batsmen to score runs freely. It's a flat wicket and therefore any score over 170 would be a fighting total. The first four to five overs of the match would help seamers and then the wicket will become flat and easy for batting,' BCCI Curator for Western Region Dhiraj Parsana said. The local pitch curator Rasik Makwana insisted that even a total of 200 would not be easy to defend on that track. The bowlers from either side would not be queuing up to bowl on that 22-yard strip.

Quotes:

'They know the Indian conditions well. We can't get complacent against them. Australia on a given day are a very dangerous side.' Rohit Sharma, India batsman

'All of us have played with and against a lot of the Indian players and vice-versa. We know a lot of strengths and weaknesses, a lot about personalities. There are some advantages for both the teams, so there are some areas to try and exploit.' George Bailey, Australia captain.