India’s young bowling unit, which has been under the pump, will look to better its death overs performance while utilising Glenn Maxwell’s absence to its advantage in the fourth T20 International against Australia in Raipur on Friday.
The fourth IND vs AUS T20I will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Chhattisgarh’s capital city from 7 pm onwards.
India’s second-string attack did not paint a good picture of itself by not defending 40-plus runs in the final two overs in the third match which the Australians won while chasing a daunting 223-run target.
There is a possibility of a minor tweak in the Indian line-up after Prasidh Krishna gave away 68 runs in four overs, including 21 in the final over.
Deepak Chahar is back in the T20 mix and his ability to move the new ball should be considered for his inclusion in the playing XI along with death overs specialist Mukesh Kumar, who is back after a one-match break.
In the batting lineup, Shreyas Iyer’s comeback means only Tilak Varma looks a candidate who could be benched as five others — Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, skipper Suryakumar Yadav and finisher Rinku Singh select themselves.
Shreyas Iyer brings a huge reputation as a T20 batter and is poised to make a big impact in the remaining two games of the five-match series, said young India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi on Friday.
“It will make a big impact in our batting lineup,” Bishnoi told reporters during the pre-match press conference.
“He brings a lot of reputation in T20 cricket and has been in good form in the World Cup,” he said.
The 23-year-old legspinner has been the pick of the bowlers in the series, having grabbed 6 wickets at 19.66.
India will also look to exploit the absence of a marauding Maxwell who pulled off a heist of sorts to singlehandedly bring Australia back into the five-match series with a win in a last-ball finish in Guwahati.
Cricket Australia (CA) released many of its top players including Maxwell midway into the series keeping in mind their workload and fitness ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Instead of Maxwell, the Indian bowlers will probably be bowling to players such as Tim David, Josh Phillippe and big-hitter Ben McDermott, a far better proposition at the moment than challenging ‘Big Show’, who has enhanced his reputation as one of Australia’s greatest white-ball batters in the past five-six weeks.
India’s bowlers, though, will still have to contend with Travis Head, on a high after his scintillating match-winning hundred in the World Cup final against India, and the seasoned Matthew Wade, who is leading the side in the ongoing series.
The reinforcements have already joined the Australian squad and are available for the penultimate match of the series that started barely three days after their triumphant World Cup campaign, the tight scheduling leaving many former players surprised.
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