Australia and India will begin a two-month long rivalry with the first of the three T20I matches at the Gabba in Brisbane. This series will be followed by four Tests and three ODIs going into January 2019.

The last time these two countries met in the T20 format down under, India whitewashed Australia 3-0 in the series under the leadership of MS Dhoni, who incidentally was dropped from the squad due to poor returns with the bat and selectors looking for an option for him behind the stumps.

Virat Kohli returns to lead the Indian team after being rested for the Windies T20I series. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are certain to continue to open for India as India looks for a good start to their Australia tour. The Indian team management announced their 12-man squad for the first T20I and it remained unchanged from the Windies game, the only exception being Virat Kohli returning to the mix.

Australia, on the other hand, will look to end their miserable run in limited overs series recently, where they have failed to win any significant matches. Under the new leadership of Aaron Finch, Australia has failed to find a winning combination in the format, losing to South Africa recently in a rain-curtailed T20I match.

The T20I match at Brisbane is expected to have record audience watching the match live and everyone hopes that it gives an exciting start to the series and the rivalry.

Toss:

India have won the toss and have opted to field

Playing XIs:

India : Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant(w), Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, K Khaleel Ahmed

Australia : D Arcy Short, Aaron Finch(c), Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey(w), Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake