Rohit Sharma was the Player of the Match when India took on Australia in their last T20 encounter

Having lost the ODI series against host Australia, India’s sole aim now is to win the T20 series Down Under. The T20 World Champion nation, which also recently lifted the Asia Cup (T20 format), definitely wishes to maintain its dominance in the T20 format.

India has the potential to win the T20 format series; they have an advantage over Australia, having won 20 out of 32 matches since the start of the T20 era. In fact, do you know what happened in the last clash between the two? Ahead of India’s first T20 game against Australia, let us recall their last encounter.

Super Eights, T20 World Cup

After topping Group A of the group stage, India was put into Group 1 of the Super Eight Stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. Other members of Group 1 were Afghanistan, Australia, and Bangladesh. Afghanistan and Bangladesh posed little threat to India, but Australia did. However, India knew how to deal with the Aussies.

Sharma supremacy

Batting first, India’s former captain Rohit Sharma went hyperballistic with his willow against the bowlers. When his close friend and opener Virat Kohli lost his wicket for a duck, Sharma took the responsibility and led from the front to guide India into the semi-finals. The Mumbai-based cricketer scored 92 runs off 41 balls, registering a strike rate of 224.39. His innings included seven boundaries and eight sixes.

Sharma was supported by the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Hardik Pandya, who in the middle order added 31, 28, and 27 runs, respectively. The four players helped India post a target of 205 runs at the expense of five wickets in 20 overs.

A bowlers’ day

Despite Australia's persistent efforts to reach the target in the second innings, the Indian bowlers ultimately prevailed. Arshdeep Singh, although he proved to be expensive with an economy of nine, picked up three wickets. Travis Head, the man who has always traumatised India, was sent back to the pavilion by Jasprit Bumrah. India’s star Chinaman also halted Australia’s progress by grabbing two wickets.

India won the game by 24 runs and proceeded to the semi-finals of the tournament.

Playing XI

For the upcoming five-match series, here are the playing XIs of both sides who will take on each other from October 29 onwards.

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.