Australia eye maiden T20I series win in India

New Delhi, Feb27: When India will take on Australia in the second and last match of T20 Series the former would like to win the match and level the series.

The last time India lost three consecutive T20Is was in the latter half of 2015, and they will be keen to avoid a repeat knowing winning momentum is key ahead of the World Cup. India might not be at their full strength but will also know that Australia, too, is not at theirs. They would have come into the series confident that they can get the better of the visitors, even if results don't really count for too much in this bilateral T20I series.

Krunal Pandya confidently assured that India will come back hard and do everything to level the series and get back to winning ways. Pat Cummins reiterated the same, saying his side is aware that India's quality and knowledge of conditions will push them to ensure there's no clean sweep.

The wicket is expected to bring in a lot more runs than in Vishakapatnam, even though there is a nice green covering of grass on it. Truer bounce and short boundaries will mean more value for shots and that means there's another auction in place for both the middle orders that failed in the first T20I. India will hope the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya can give themselves some useful runs under the belt, while the same applies to Australia's troika of Peter Handscomb, Aaron Finch and Ashton Turner. The runs Rahul and Maxwell made for India and Australia respectively will give both camps great cheer, and a continuation of that will be the least the teams expect.

The bowling attacks from both sides have little to worry about. Umesh Yadav is surely an issue for India, but his last over failure could be viewed as a one-off. They will, however, ponder about the need for an extra option. For Australia, Jhye Richardson was the most disappointing, but certainly not to an extent that'll give the think tank a headache.

India Probable XI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik/Vijay Shankar, Krunal Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Markande/Siddarth Kaul, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia Probable XI: Aaron Finch (c), D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb (wk), Ashton Turner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson/Kane Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa