5 player battles to look out for in the T20I series vs Australia
It was just over a month ago the Indian team completed a hugely successful full-fledged tour to Australia. They played three T20Is, four Test matches, and three ODIs down under. However, as the World Cup looms large and the focus shifting solely to white-ball cricket, Australia are in India for a limited-overs series which will comprise of two T20Is and five ODIs.
The tour gets underway with a two-match T20I series. The last couple of times these two sides played T20Is, the series ended in a 1-1 draw (in October 2017 and November 2018). However, India have had the better of Australia in the shortest format overall. In 18 meetings, the ‘Men in Blue’ have emerged victorious 11 times and Australia have won just six games.
Hence, Australia would love to settle the scores here while India will want to continue their dominance against the Aussies in the shortest format. Hence, with the T20I series not too far away, let’s look at the five key player battles to look forward to in the series.
#5 Jhye Richardson vs Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is undoubtedly one of the best batsmen in world cricket at the moment. The Indian skipper will be returning from a break (he was rested for the latter half of the New Zealand tour). However, he hasn’t been in the best of forms in T20Is. He’s blown hot and cold in the shortest format.
However, he guided India to a series-levelling win at the SCG against Australia in November last year. Moreover, Kohli loves batting against Australia. He has scored the most runs against an opponent in T20Is than any other player. He has scored 488 runs at an average of 61.00 against Australia.
Jhye Richardson has been very impressive in his short international career so far. He’s showed his class in all three formats and is a big threat. In fact, the Western Australian quick had Virat Kohli’s number in the ODI series. He dismissed the Indian skipper in all three games. He was excellent in that series as he picked up 6 wickets at an average of 18.67 and an economy of 3.73.
Hence, the Indian No. 3 will be eager to settle the scores against the 22-year-old fast bowler. Thus, Jhye Richardson vs Kohli is one of the battles of the series.