IND vs AUS 2022: 3 Indian players who will look to come good against Australia
Team India's disappointing Asia Cup 2022 campaign has been an eye-opener at just the right time. The Men in Blue, who looked assured in their planning and performances ahead of the T20 World Cup, found some of their weak links exposed in the Asia Cup.
Although Virat Kohli's fantastic form is arguably the biggest gain for them, the Indian team needs to address some issues in the upcoming T20I series against Australia.
While there are quite a few players whose spots seem to be sealed in the T20 World Cup squad, they will still look to regain form to be at their best in the showpiece event down under.
Let's take a look at three such players:
#3 KL Rahul
" it was so easy out there that kl rahul was scoring runs " 😭😭😭 twitter.com/gradecricketer…
KL Rahul's 62(41) against Afghanistan might have taken some amount of heat off him as far as his T20 World Cup spot is concerned. But team management as well as captain Rohit Sharma have been pretty vocal about how crucial he is to the team.
Rahul had a disappointing Asia Cup overall, scoring 132 runs at a modest strike rate of 122.22. He looked rusty at times even in the ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Although Rahul looks certain to make it to the T20 World Cup squad, he will want to get some crucial runs under his belt against a pretty potent Australian bowling attack.
#2 Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav
Innings - 5
Runs - 139
Highest score - 68*
Average - 34.75
Strike rate - 163.5 https://t.co/gtv8NHuCwU
Suryakumar Yadav, in a span of just over a year, has cemented his spot in the Indian T20I team. Over 800 runs at a career strike-rate of 173 are just ridiculous numbers. However, the one thing that he needs to work on is not throwing away his starts.
SKY was named the Player of the Match for his impactful 68 off just 26 balls against Hong Kong. But he will also be disappointed with the way he got dismissed in the other games, especially when the team needed him the most.
Another crucial player to India's T20 World Cup chances, Yadav will be keen to win at least one game on his own for the team in the upcoming T20I series against Australia.
#1 Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik poora career bench pe baitha hai. He might as well join TCS.
Arguably one of the biggest mysteries of India's Asia Cup campaign was that their designated finisher Dinesh Karthik (DK) faced just a solitary delivery the whole tournament. DK was dropped for the games against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Super-4 stage and couldn't face a single ball against Afghanistan.
The Indian team's obsession with playing a left-hander saw them replace an injured Jadeja with Rishabh Pant and utilize Deepak Hooda as the finisher and sixth bowling option.
However, both these changes didn't work and that might have probably taught the management the importance of DK in the death overs. The veteran Indian finisher will need at least one good innings under his belt against Australia to bring that confidence back.