Twenty20 offers hope to India
January 31, 2012 09:26:38 UK
The good news for India as they face up to Australia in two Twenty20 matches is they cannot lose by an innings.
MS Dhoni hopes to help India regain some pride in Australia.Indeed, with the Australians making a couple of strange alterations they may even have a chance of winning both games, having suffered a 4-0 whitewash in the recent Test series.
The Indian old guard will start to disappear as younger batsmen are blooded, with Virat Kohli heading the bunch. Ravi Jadeja; Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary and the constantly overlooked Rohit Sharma are all likely to figure in the shorter games to come.
Irfan Pathan will be looking to stake a claim to become his country's all rounder in all forms of the game and his first steps back to the international arena will start here.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the tourists, but the home captain will appear in international cricket for the first time at the age of 29. Tasmania's George Bailey will replace Cameron White, having ironically played under White's leadership in the Big Bash.
The dearth of young talent sees 40-year-old Brad Hogg recalled to the top table, but the rest of the home squad is more predictable, with David Warner; David Hussey and Dan Christian, along with Aaron Finch, taking their usual places.
Brad Haddin's drift into oblivion looks to have started as Matthew Wade takes over the gloves and may well move past both Haddin and Tim Paine to become a permanent fixture in all three disciplines.
The first T20 international takes place at the SCG on Wednesday, with India 2.30 to finally register a win Down Under, while Australia are 1.61 to come out on top and give Bailey a winning start.
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