3 player battles to watch out for in India vs Australia T20Is ft. Suryakumar Yadav vs Adam Zampa
India will take on Australia in what will be a starting point for their build-up to the T20 World Cup next year in the West Indies and the USA. The two teams will play five T20Is with the first game to be played in Vizag on Thursday, November 23.
A new-look Indian team has Suryakumar Yadav as their stand-in skipper with Hardik Pandya injured. There are also several players from the men's cricket team that won gold in the Asian Games last month. It will be interesting to see how they shape up into a settled combination.
Australia, fresh off an incredible World Cup triumph, have Matthew Wade to lead them this series and are also looking to find the right kind of combination for the T20 World Cup next year. On that note, let's take a look at the three player battles that could be worth watching throughout the series:
#3 Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Jason Behrendorff
Yashasvi Jaiswal has been a revelation for India in the T20I format and in a very short span, has almost cemented his place at the top of the order. The young southpaw's ability to hit from ball one and be ultra-aggressive is exactly what the Men in Blue need in the shortest format.
Australia know they will need to dismiss Jaiswal early and will bank on Jason Behrendorff's new-ball ability. The left-arm pacer has had enough experience of bowling in Indian conditions and could be a handful against Jaiswal if he gets some swing and seam movement with the new ball.
#2 Glenn Maxwell vs Ravi Bishnoi
Australia's X-factor in white-ball cricket for a long time has been Glenn Maxwell and he even showed why he is so dangerous with his performances in the 2023 World Cup. He is a vital cog for Australia in the T20I team as well and India will need to be careful about the damage he can do throughout the series.
Maxwell's potential weakness has been wrist spin and that's what makes his match-up with Ravi Bishnoi an intriguing one. Bishnoi himself will look to cement his place in the T20I side and could go a long way in doing that if he is able to keep Maxwell quiet. He has dismissed Maxwell once in T20 cricket but also has conceded 37 runs in 20 balls, making it an interesting match-up.
#1 Suryakumar Yadav vs Adam Zampa
Arguably the best T20 batter in the world at the moment, Suryakumar Yadav will need to get rid of the World Cup disappointment to focus on the job at hand. He will be the nucleus around which the Indian T20I team will move forward and his role as a leader would also be to score consistently and lead by example.
SKY has scored 45 runs from the 22 balls that he has faced from Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa in T20Is. However, Zampa has dismissed him once and both players will not hold back when they face off in the series again. This could be a pivotal match-up in determining where the series is heading.