Guwahati: India would aim for a series victory while Australia would look forward to level terms with the hosts when both these teams lock horns in the second game of the three-match T20I series on Tuesday in Guwahati.
In the first match, the Indian bowlers rose to the occasion once again as both the spinners and the pacers contributed to the middle-order collapse of the visitors. However, the only positive for them in the match was opener Aaron Finch, who has been one of Australia’s stand-out performers in the tour so far.
With the inclusion of new faces in the Australian team in the form of Daniel Christian, Tim Paine, Moises Henriques and Jason Behrendorff, everyone expected a rejuvenated performance from them, moreso because of the fact that there are many in the team who have a lot of IPL experience but none of that was put to use in Ranchi. Regular skipper Steve Smith’s injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the tour worsened the situation as the Australians succumbed to their seventh consecutive T20I loss against India.
That makes the match in Guwahati a do-or-die one for them if they are to salvage some pride after the series of losses. Hence, Australia would need some special performances from some of their seasoned campaigners in the format, like stand-in skipper David Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch. Also, their bowling barring Nathan Coulter-Nile hasn’t been effective at all and thus that unit of the team should also rise to the occasion and help Australia show some fight for atleast once in the series.
For India, things have been going really well. The entire team has been performing pretty well as an unit and the results add weight to that statement. Both the veterans and the youngsters have combined beautifully to help India register some amazing wins throughout this series against Australia and they would like to repeat the same and aim to take an unassailable lead when they meet the Aussies in Guwahati.
With the series at stake, this is the final chance for the visitors to make any sort of impact whatsoever. But India, in red hot form is the side to beat at the moment. An interesting contest awaits us on Tuesday.