India will lock horns with Australia in the second T20I at Melbourne to stay afloat in the three-match T20I series. The hosts were able to draw first blood as they won the first T20I by four runs. Aaron Finch led side had lost both the series against South Africa and the triumph over the potent Indian side must have added a shot in their arm. Sportzwiki brings you the Match Preview for the second T20I.
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Meanwhile, Australia was able to get over the finishing line by the skin of their teeth. The hosts had a plan to attack India’s inexperienced bowlers and it paid dividends for Australia. Khaleel Ahmed and Krunal Pandya had a tough day at the office as they got a taste of Australian soil. Ahmed was taken for 42 runs whereas Pandya was clobbered for 55 runs.
Australia was able to win the white-knuckle.
Thus, India might be tempted to make a change to the final XI and they could bring in Yuzvendra Chahal in place of these two rookie players. Chahal hasn’t been in the best of forms in the recent past, however, he is expected to get back into the side.
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Chris Lynn was able to hit the ground running in his home ground and helped Australia get back on track after a slow start. Lynn smacked a quickfire 21-ball 37 to move Australia’s innings forward. Glenn Maxwell took his time in initial stages and then changed gears to perfection. Maxwell struck four sixes in his blistering knock whereas Marcus Stoinis came up with an overall all-round show.
Chahal should return to playing XI.
On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan continued his sublime form going at the top of the order. Dhawan’s quickfire 42-ball 76 kept India in the hunt, however, losing wickets in the middle overs got India behind the eight-ball. The visitors will like their deputy Rohit Sharma to come to the party to make a solid comeback.
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India’s skipper Virat Kohli had a rare off day on the field as he fluffed a chance and could only score four runs. In fact, India’s ground fielding was not up to the mark as they were sloppy throughout. Hence, the visitors will aim to pull up their socks to keep breathing in the three-match T20I series.
India needs to win to keep breathing in the series.
Dinesh Karthik has been given a new role of a finisher by the team management. The flamboyant batsman’s game is ideally not suited to the role, however, Karthik came up with a fine cameo to keep India in the game. Karthik blitz of 30 runs off just 13 balls gave a ray of hope to the Indian side when there was despair as they needed 60 off the last four overs.
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Match Preview
Date: 23 November 2018, 1:20 PM IST.
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.
Weather Conditions: Rain is forecasted for the match day with the temperature being 15 Degree Celsius. It is going to be cloudy and a breezy day in Melbourne. Thus, rain can play a killjoy.
Pitch Conditions: The Melbourne pitch is going to provide good pace and bounce. With the weather conditions been windy, the fast bowlers can come into action.
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India’s Predicted Playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia’s Predicted Playing: Aaron Finch, D’Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDorment, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendroff, Billy Stanlake.
Stats:
Rohit Sharma needs another 58 runs to leapfrog Martin Guptill’s tally of most T20I runs. Rohit has scored 2241 runs in the shortest version.
Shikhar Dhawan had scored a fine knock of 76 runs to become leading run-scorer in T20I in 2018.
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