Can India taste success in the T20 series against Australia?

The Indian Cricket team lost the recently concluded One day International series 1-4. Despite great individual batting performances, the bowlers gave a lot of runs and were not able to put pressure on the Australian batting line up. The Indian bowling line up looked ordinary and were not able to defend targets in excess of 300. The upcoming T20 series in Australia will provide a great opportunity for players such as Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suresh Raina to perform and stake a claim in the World T20 squad. 

 The T20 series will start on 26^th January in Adelaide, the second and third one to be played at Melbourne on 29^th January and the third T20 match to be played in Sydney on 31^st January respectively. The Indian team looks a balanced T20 squad. The Indian batting order has looked in great shape and would like continue their great form in the T20 series. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli were among the runs in the One day International series. Yuvraj Singh is also making a comeback in the T20. Suresh Raina an excellent T20 specialist player was dropped from One day International squad would like to stamp his authority on the shortest format. Suresh Raina before arriving to Australia played the Syed Musthaq Ali Trophy tournament where he captained Uttar Pradesh and played a crucial knock in the finals. The Indian team lacked an allrounder in the One day International series. Hardik Pandya hard hitting batsmen were among the runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Baroda and could be perfect choice for all-rounder’s spot. The Indian bowling line up will welcome back the experience of Ashish Nehra whose bowling performances in the Indian Premier League have been brilliant. Jasprit Bumrah who had an excellent debut match against Australia in the 5^th One day International has been called as a replacement for Mohammad Shami would be looking to impress the selectors. The spinning department will be headed by Ashwin, Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh.  

The Indian team needs to perform well in Australia to gain confidence ahead of T20 series against Sri Lanka and then the World T20 to be played in March- April. If India wins the T20 series against Australia by 3-0 then India can become the number 1 ranked side in T20 rankings which will be a great confidence booster. India has the ability to play aggressive cricket in T20 cricket but needs to ensure that the team play good cricket to win the series. This promises to be an exciting series and Indian team has a chance to take positives from One day International series and give a tough a fight for Australian team.

The Indian team has lots of experience of playing T20 cricket. They won the first T20 World Cup held in 2007 and runners up of 2014 edition held in Bangladesh. MS Dhoni and Co will be looking to play attacking cricket and taste success ahead of the World T20.