Australia vs India, 2nd T20I, Fantasy Pick, team predictions

Dec 6: Australia vs India, 2nd T20I, Sydney

Pro Tip: India have won nine of their last ten T20Is and have defeated Australia both times they played at the SCG. So, pick an extra player from India.

Our XI: KL Rahul, Aaron Finch, D’Arcy Short, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Y Chahal, T Natarajan, Mitchell Starc

Substitutes: Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, Adam Zampa, Steven Smith

Player availability: David Warner, Pat Cummins and Ravindra Jadeja are not available. Navdeep Saini, Ashton Agar and Marcus Stoinis’ availability is in doubt as well. Also, expect both teams to rotate their players.

We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss.

Captain: Virat Kohli

A player who averages 50-plus in T20I career doesn’t fail that often and we are backing him to bounce back in this game. Kohli’s numbers against Australia are simply mind-boggling: 593 runs at an average of 59.30 and a strike rate of 146.05. In the two games he played against Australia at the SGC, he scored a half-century each time.

Vice-captain: KL Rahul

Among the top ten teams in the ICC rankings, no one has scored more T20I runs than Rahul in the last two years. In the first T20I, he also scored the only half-century of the match and will also get you some points behind the stumps.

Hot Picks

Aaron Finch: The highest run-scorer in the ODI series did extend his form in T20Is too by top-scoring for Australia in the last game. Australia’s captain is the highest-ranked Australian batsman in T20Is (No. 3) and rightly so, having scored the most runs for Australia in the last three years with 1017 runs at an average of 39.11 and a strike rate of 161.42. Just keep an eye out on his availability.

Glenn Maxwell:After making an impact in all three ODI games, the fiery batsman in Maxwell was subdued in the last game. However, against his favourite T20I opponent, against whom he has scored 355 runs in 13 innings at an average of 32.27 and a strike rate of 144.89, he is likely to be among runs again.

Yuzvendra Chahal: After an indifferent ODI series, the leg-spinning wizard came into the last T20I as a concussion substitute and won the game as well the Man-of-the-Match award for his 4-0-25-3. In the last three years of T20I cricket, he is the second-most prolific bowler after Rashid Khan, picking up 40 wickets in 31 games at an average of 25.62.

Differential Picks

Moises Henriques: The 33-year-old allrounder made his comeback into the national side after three years, and it was a memorable one for him personally. He scored 20-ball 30 and was the best bowler in the game with a spell of 4-0-22-3.

T Natarajan: India’s newly found ‘yorker specialist’ is coming off an impressive IPL season where he picked up 16 wickets in 16 games. His dream start to his international career might continue in this game too after he picked up three wickets in the last game.

Alternate Scenarios

  • If Ashton Agar returns from his injury, he can replace Mitchell Starc.

  • Sanju Samson is an alternative option for Shikhar Dhawan.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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