Match Details
australia vs india
St Lucia, June 24, 10.30am local time
The big picture: Rain threat in St. Lucia
So it’s the Australia-India match, and the stakes are as high as they could possibly be. What more could a cricket fan want? Well, there’s one thing: the weather forecast in St Lucia isn’t very encouraging.
Form Guide
Australia LWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
India www.www …
In the spotlight – Marsh and Arshdeep
Team News: Starc in or out?
Australia played an extra spinner against Afghanistan, bringing in Ashton Agar and leaving out Mitchell Starc. They may still continue with that combination – Agar played in their last match against Scotland in St Lucia – especially as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli don’t like facing left-arm spin in the powerplay, but given the nature of this encounter, will they continue to leave out one of their most tried and tested match-winners?
Australia (Probable): 1 Travis Head, 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Tim David, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc/Ashton Agar, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.
It is unlikely that India will change their 3-3 bowling combination (including Hardik Pandya as one of the three pacers), but there could be some pressure on their two left-arm orthodox spinners if Travis Head or David Warner bat in the middle overs.
India (Probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
Pitch and conditions: Pace is up, runs are made
However, there is a good chance of rain in St Lucia, with the forecast saying it will continue until Monday morning and the weather will clear between 10am and 4pm.
Stats and Trivia
- India has one 3-2 lead over Australia The two teams have had the most competition in all their encounters in the T20 World Cup so far. However, the last time the two teams faced each other in this tournament was in 2016.
- There is only a difference of 30 runs between Virat Kohli (4103) and Rohit Sharma (4073). India’s run scoring leaderboard In T-20 international matches.
- If they both play, Agar and Arshdeep will play their 50th T20 match. Agar made his T20 debut in March 2016, while Arshdeep made his debut in July 2022. New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi (51) is the only player to have played for a full member team More T20Is than Arshdeep since his debut.
- Australia might find a way to bowl spin to Kohli and Rohit in the powerplay, even if they keep Agar out. Off-spinners have been effective against them in the powerplay so far in this World Cup, with Mohammad Nabi and Mahedi Hasan bowling the quieter overs. Kohli has so far conceded nine runs off 12 balls against off-spin in the powerplay, and Rohit has conceded nine runs off eight balls. In such a scenario, Glenn Maxwell could be a useful option.
Citation
“We have full faith in our group. We are a very good cricket team. Yes, it wasn’t great for us tonight, but I think there is also positivity in the fact that 36 hours later we will be back on the field. It is a big game, it will be against India for sure, and it is a must-win game. I think if you look at the short history of this team, I certainly know it brings out the best in our players, so the boys will definitely be up for it.”
Australia captain mitchell marshAfter the defeat against Afghanistan
“I don’t think you need to score half-centuries and centuries in T20. What matters is how you can put pressure on the opposition. All the batsmen were trying to do that from the start. That’s how we want to play and push ourselves to move forward. Yes, you need to understand the conditions as well, but our team has a lot of experience and we want them to use that experience on the field.”
india captain Rohit Sharma On the team approach with the bat
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
