🏏Australia Tour of India - 3rd T20I - Hyderabad 🏏

🏏Australia Men Tour of India - 3rd T20I - Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium - Hyderabad - 25/09/2022🏏

India, Australia look to sew up series and find death-bowling solutions

The two teams will hope to give their T20 World Cup plans a little more shape in the deciding game in Hyderabad

An eight-overs-a-side sprint in Nagpur ended with India levelling the T20I series 1-1 thanks to some outstanding bowling from Axar Patel and a supreme display of ball-striking from Rohit Sharma. But it's difficult for the two sides to gain a lot from the experience on Friday, other than gleaning some insight into how to set up tactically for a rain-shortened game in the World Cup.

India and Australia are unlikely to spend much time (not that they have too much of it anyway) deconstructing their 16-over shoot-out at Nagpur, especially when a curtailed game allowed both Rohit Sharma and Aaron Finch to frontload their line ups and play a bowler short. They'll move quickly on to Hyderabad in the hope of a more representative decider at the end of this very short scuffle, looking to pick holes in the opposition while hoping to plug some of their own ahead of sterner tests ahead.

The deficiencies for both clearly lie in the bowling. While Australia might have the luxury of calling upon Mitchell Starc when they get back home, India find themselves scrambling for balance and form in that department. It's a strange place for Rohit and Rahul Dravid to find themselves given much of their pre-World Cup build up has been about attuning the wider cricketing world about their new batting philosophy.

The return of Jasprit Bumrah after a couple of months out was a blessing but India will need the other acts viz. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal and even Harshal Patel to step up if they are to make a fist for trophies they'll contest for, tomorrow as well as a month from now. Harshal, in particular, hasn't had the kindest return to competitive action from an injury of his own, conceding 49 in Mohali and then 32 from just two overs in Nagpur. Thankfully for India, Axar Patel has brought respite amid all the head scratching.

According to reports from weather.com, the temperature of Hyderabad city of India on September 25 (Sunday) will be 29° Celcius during the day and fall to 22° Celcius at night. The sky will be partly cloudy during the day and night.

The chances of rain are 24% during the day and 22% at night. The humidity will be 75% during the day and rise to 86% at night. Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad is a good-scoring ground.

The stadium has only hosted 1 T20I game which was a T20I encounter between India and West Indies in 2019. In that match, West Indies posted a huge total of 207.  Later, India managed to chase down the target. The pitch at the stadium is considered flat which tends to slow down as the match progresses. Spinners will get more advantage at the stadium than the pacers.

Team news

The teams should revert to a more normal setup in Hyderabad. Pant will likely make way given he wasn't required with the bat, and India will need an extra bowler for a full game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems the logical choice to return. India could also consider bringing in R Ashwin for Yuzvendra Chahal.

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal/R Ashwin

Australia will go back to a seven-batter strategy with Josh Inglis slotting straight back into the middle order. One of Sean Abbott and Daniel Sams will make way. If Ellis is fit, he will come straight back in for the other. Australia may also be very cautious with Cummins and Hazlewood. Three games in six days, albeit one shortened by rain, and several long-haul flights is a recipe for injury. Any hint of soreness in their thoroughbreds and they will be rested. But with Richardson unavailable, they can't rest both.

Australia (probable): 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Cameron Green, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Josh Inglis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Nathan Ellis/Daniel Sams/Sean Abbott, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Did you know?

- Matthew Wade has scored 50 runs off the 19 deliveries he's faced from Harshal Patel in these two games. This includes five sixes and three fours.

- Adam Zampa has dismissed Virat Kohli 8 times in 23 white-ball games.

- Rohit Sharma now has 176 sixes in T20I cricket, four more than the next best: Martin Guptill (172)

What they said:

"It is something we are trying. There are times they (management) feel that there could be a couple of overs where Axar Patel could target the spinner and take them on. That was the kind of logic at that stage and having a left-hander when a leg-spinner is bowling, it is a good match-up. We try and use that option sometimes, depending on how the game is unraveling at that point in time" - Dinesh Karthik on India using Axar Patel as a floater in the batting order given he could be the only left-hander in the XI.

Stats and trivia

The toss may not be as important in Hyderabad. In the last 16 T20s dating back to the start of the 2018 IPL, it is eight wins each to the teams batting first and second.

In his last four T20Is, Axar has taken eight wickets at an average of 8.62, with a strike rate of 9.7 and an economy rate of 5.3.

In his last eight T20I innings dating back to his World Cup semi-final heroics against Pakistan in 2021, Wade has scored 228 runs (only dismissed once) with a strike rate of 178.12.

Hazlewood is two short of 50 T20I wickets. If he gets there on Friday, in what will be his 33rd T20I, he will better Starc's Australian record of 40 matches.

 As the clock ticks by and the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup closes onto the teams, it's time for all countries to iron out their rusty parts going into the mega tournament, It's the same for India as well as Australia as they face each other for one final time in this short 3-match series, with the scores level at 1-1.

 For the hosts, it's all about the bowling and the combinations needed going ahead. The batting seems quite settled, but who are the 5 main bowlers who could be trusted? Bumrah and most probably Arshdeep seem to have locked in their places, with no Jadeja around - Axar Patel, with his ability to slow down things and be a more than useful bat could take one of those spinner's slots. 

But the rest of the bowling remains a puzzle - Haerdik Pandya could come in useful in Australian conditions, but he'd only be the fourth bowler, there's one pace bowler slot and probably one spinner slot and there are choices - Bhuvneshwar, Harshal, Chahal and Ashwin from the selected list of 15. With four games to go, time is fast running out for the above mentioned players to create an impact. 

While Bhuvneshwar's 19th over trouble has been well-documented, Harshal hasn't returned well since his rib injury which kept him out of action for a while, Chahal hasn't provided control or wickets in the middle overs, a phase where Ashwin has excelled. 

On the other hand, the reigning defending champions look far more balanced and the return of some of their rested stars would only bolster their combination. A win tonight will be confidence boosting, but there's a bigger prize lying ahead for both teams.

Feels kind of odd that none of the active men ICT players have tweeted about Deepti Sharma (especially since ECB players have been on a tirade since yesterday). 

Maybe it's for the better. Kuch ulta hi boldenge ye log toh. Silence is golden. 

Pitch Report | Murali Kartik and Ajit Agarkar: It's a fairly large surface with even sized boundaries on both sides of the square. It's another good batting surface, the grass has been well rolled. 

Dew wouldn't be a factor tonight, but the captain winning the toss could still be looking at chasing down the score. Defending wouldn't be easy as the ball could come onto the bat even better under lights. In short, this is a belter.

The 8-over a side match in Nagpur turned into a slog fest and there were team changes with respect to the playing conditions. India went in with an extra batter and Australia opted for another bowling all-rounder in Daniel Sams. With the forecast being fine in Hyderabad, both teams could revert to their perceived strengths. India could bring back Bhuvneshwar Kumar while the visitors would play the extra batter in Josh Inglis. But could India go for the off-spin of Ashwin ahead of Chahal / Harshal?