New look India face Australian test as 2024 T20 World Cup preparations begin

A new look India minus several regulars will face Australia in the T20I series starting on Thursday.

Even as cricket fans all over India begin to get over the heartbreaking loss to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, the treadmill of matches only continues to come thick and fast as the Men in Blue get ready to face Australia again, this time in a five-match T20I series starting in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

The squad for the series, on expected lines, comprises of a lot of players who did not feature in the ODI World Cup but they have had game time under their belt having played the T20 competition at the Asian Games and won gold.

The squad picked for the matches currently has three players-Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Prasidh Krishna-with a fourth player-Shreyas Iyer-joining the squad for the final two matches of the series.

Iyer featured in all 11 matches that India played at the ODI World Cup while Yadav replaced the injured Hardik Pandya in the playing XI against New Zealand at Dharamsala and played right through, until the final.

The two players who did not have as big a part to play in the World Cup were Ishan Kishan and Prasidh Krishna. The former played the opening two matches against Australia and Afghanistan before Shubman Gill was drafted in while the latter replaced Pandya in the squad after he was ruled out due to injury and did not feature in any of the games, even after India had booked their place in the semifinals.

It is anticipated that both players will be part of India's playing XI for the T20I series and if that turns out to be the case, then they will look to impress the selectors in the first bilateral series leading up to the T20 World Cup in June next year.

Suryakumar Yadav made his international debut for India first in the T20I format in February 2021 and it is in this format that, less than three years after playing his first match, he will captain the Men in Blue for the first time.

The 33-year-old's elevation to captaincy may have been fortuitous after Pandya's injury at the ODI World Cup turned out to be more serious than what one assumed, but what cannot be denied is that for the last 12 months or more, Yadav has been India's most impactful T20 player and deserves his place in the squad in the format.

The batter did captain his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians at the 2023 edition of the tournament and has in the past led Mumbai in domestic cricket, albeit not with great success.

The opportunity to lead India presents Yadav a chance to display a side to his game that could come in handy for the Men in Blue in future.

When India announced their first ODI World Cup squad in early September, they had two players who offered similar traits-Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

At the Asia Cup, the latter sustained a left quadriceps strain which eventually ruled him out of the tournament and paved the way for Ravichandran Ashwin to return to the ODI squad after almost two years.

The all rounder has used the time away from the game to get fully fit once again and will most likely take the place at the number seven position with the bat and four overs with the ball, in the playing XI.

After missing the ODI World Cup, Axar Patel will return to the fold in the T20I series against Australia.

After India failed to progress past the group stage of the T20 World Cup in the UAE in 2021, the team under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid set about changing the way India batted in T20 cricket, that involved going hard at the start of the innings.

The new mindset seemed like working until the team reached the T20 World Cup in Australia 12 months later, where after judging that the surfaces did not have the same pace as was expected, they changed their template to a style that suited the conditions better.

That ploy backfired on the crucial semifinals day as India's target of 169 was overhauled by England with 10 wickets to spare. Post the defeat, the seniors were rested and Hardik Pandya took over as the captain of the T20I side.

A template similar to the one before the 2022 T20 World Cup was being set before the priorities moved to the ODI World Cup and India will hope to carry an aggressive mindset both with bat and ball against Australia and execute their plans successfully.

India squad for T20I series against Australia: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

Note: Shreyas Iyer will join the squad as vice-captain for the last two T20Is in Raipur and Bengaluru.