Melbourne: Buoyed by a confident start and the return to form of skipper Suryakumar Yadav, a youthful and dynamic Indian side heads to the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the second T20I against Australia on Friday.
The young brigade of Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Shivam Dube has redefined India’s T20 batting with fearless power-hitting, but the team had longed for their captain’s return to his explosive best — something they finally witnessed in the rain-hit series opener.
Under pressure to deliver, Suryakumar rediscovered his touch with a blistering 24-ball 39, highlighted by a monstrous 125-metre six off Josh Hazlewood — a reminder of his match-winning prowess. India were cruising at 97 for one in 9.4 overs when rain washed out play in Canberra, with both Suryakumar and Shubman Gill poised to unleash further carnage on the hosts.
With rain again forecast for Friday, the visitors will hope for clearer skies as they aim to carry forward the momentum from the abandoned first game.
More than anything, India will take heart from their skipper’s return to form as they continue fine-tuning their aggressive blueprint under head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has encouraged his players to push for mammoth totals — even at the cost of occasional collapses.
Gambhir’s “high-risk, high-reward” approach has transformed India into one of the most dangerous batting sides in world cricket, a philosophy they’ll look to perfect ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year, where they will defend the title won in the Americas last summer.
Though India didn’t get a chance to bowl in Canberra, their attack remains formidable, led by Jasprit Bumrah’s precision and Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery spin, complemented by Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, both capable of turning matches even with modest totals to defend.
However, they will be wary of Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, both of whom have a history of tormenting Indian bowlers. Australia’s approach mirrors India’s in many ways — aggressive, attacking, and fearless — with Head, Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, and Josh Inglis forming the core of their power-packed batting lineup.
The hosts’ bowling, though, appears slightly inexperienced following Mitchell Starc’s T20I retirement and Pat Cummins’ injury layoff, leaving Josh Hazlewood to spearhead a young attack featuring Xavier Bartlett, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Nathan Ellis.
Teams (from):
India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (C), Sean Abbott (games 1–3), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman (games 3–5), Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (games 1–2), Glenn Maxwell (games 3–5), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis.
Match starts at 1:45 PM (IST).
