On Sunday (November 25), the hosts Australia and the visitors India will meet in the third and final T20I of the series at Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney). Leading the series by 1-0, the hosts Australia is at the safe position while it is the must-win game for the visitors India to save the series.

Also read: Ben McDermott confident to win the T20I series

Australian cricket team

While the Australian cricket team is struggling in the present international cricket due to some internal issues, this series is very important for them. As they can’t lose this T20I series, the hosts Australia is now focusing to win the final T20I and to take the trophy convincingly.

Batting is the main issue for this team as there are not many experienced batsmen in the squad. The openers failed to provide the good starts in both the matches of this series while their most of batsmen have lost their wickets after getting settled down. To win the big games like India, at least a few of the batsmen need to take the responsibilities to play big innings.

The bowling and fielding are currently the strong points of Australian cricket team. After joining the left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc for the final T20I as a replacement of Billy Stanlake, the bowling seems stronger than before.

Form guide (last five T20Is; starting with most recent): No Result, Won, Lost, Lost and Lost

Also read: Aaron Finch Not Much Worried About His Bad Form

Indian cricket team

While India has never lost the three-match bilateral T20I series, they haven’t lost the bilateral T20I series since August 2016, which have at least two matches. However, currently, both are at stake in the present moment as the Sydney T20I is the must-win game for India to save the series.

The experienced bowlers have started this series very well while the inexperienced bowlers have developed their skills in quick time. Though the Indian fielders have worked hard and well on this tour, they were sloppy in few times as they put down some crucial chances. The Indian players need to be careful in this part.

Once again, the in-form top-order batsmen need to take up most of the batting responsibilities as the middle-order batting mostly depended on the experienced Dinesh Karthik. The other middle-order batsmen have enough qualities but they have lack of experiences in international cricket.

Form guide (last five T20Is; starting with most recent): No Result, Lost, Won, Won and Won

Also read: Predicted XI of Team India for the Sydney T20I

Full squads

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Alex Carey (vc/wk), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav

Key Stats Preview:

• Playing four T20I matches at Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney), Australia won three out of those and lost only once.
• India has played only one T20I at Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney) and that was against Australia on 1 February 2012. India lost that game by 31 runs.
• Australian pacer Andrew Tye (13 T20I wickets at home) is four wickets away to become the most wicket-taking Australian bowler in the home T20I career. Currently, he is the joint second highest wicket-taking bowler in this list (Shaun Tait also has 13 T20I wickets at home). James Faulkner is leading in this list with 16 T20I wickets.
• Australian pacer Andrew Tye (36 T20I wickets) is one wicket away to become the third most T20I wicket-taker for Australia. In addition, two more T20I wickets will make him the second most T20I wicket-taker for Australia.
• Indian opening batsman Rohit Sharma (2,214 T20I runs) needs to score 58 more runs to become the leading run-scorer in the T20I history. New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill is on the top position at present with 2,271 T20I runs.