The first T20I will be played in Mohali's PCA Stadium.
India and Australia have both announced their squads for the T20 World Cup 2022 and this will be a chance for both teams to test out their playing combinations. But for the Indian team, it will be an opportunity to pick one XI and make some changes in it to get them settled before the ICC tournament begins.
With plenty of options to choose from, Team COC presents to you the predicted Team India playing XI for the first T20I against Australia.
As far as the top four in the Indian batting orders are concerned, the Indian team has a pretty settled order with Rohit Sharma and Kl Rahul opening the innings with Virat Kohli coming in the no.3 spot.
During the press conference, Rohit Sharma had also said that Virat Kohli was their backup and third opener. Suryakumar Yadav has found a cozy spot in the middle order and has flourished and would want to score some big runs given that he had a sort of dry Asia Cup 2022.
The question here will be who Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid prefer as the keeper-batter- Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik. If Rishabh Pant is preferred, then he bats at no.4 with Suryakumar coming in at the no.5 spot.
But if Dinesh Karthik is picked, he will be the finisher for India along with Hardik Pandya.
Pandya and Akshar Patel are expected to be the all-rounders in this Indian lineup with Akshar taking over the role from Ravindra Jadeja. Akshar has also shown good batting form, while Hardik Pandya may bowl a couple of overs in the powerplay to ensure more flexibility at the death for the Indian team.
Yuzvendra Chahal is expected to be the first-choice spinner in the playing XI and he will play a huge role and may even bowl in the powerplays given Australian batters’ vulnerability against quality spin.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been excellent with the new ball, but his death over bowling came in for some punishment in Asia Cup, and now with Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah back in the mix, Rohit Sharma might want to utilize Bhuvneshwar at the start itself.
Harshal Patel’s inclusion also gives India a handy lower-order batter and along with Bumrah, he will make a deadly pair in the death overs.
COC Predicted Team India playing XI:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal