After completely demolishing the Australian side in the ODIs by 4-1, Team India is raring to go for the shortest format. However, this format has always been favorite for the men in blue against the Australians.

According to the past records in T20s, India always had upper hand over the Aussies, it was pretty evident when they whitewashed the Aussies down under.

Also, the Australian team is yet to win a T20I in India against India as these teams last locked horns in T20Is, in the ICC World T20 in 2016, where the Indian team had knocked out the Australian side in a fixture at Mohali. Now, the action will take place at the JSCA Cricket Stadium at Ranchi for the first of the three T20Is.

Australians have shifted another step back as their skipper Steve Smith is ruled out of the series due to shoulder scare. However, they can’t be taken lightly as would seek redemption in the T20Is, after being outplayed in ODIs. Needless to say, they would put their best combinations forward going into the game.

Considering Indian team, looking at Indian opener Rohit Sharma’s recent performances, i may be possible that he would be rested and KL Rahul might get a chance to open along with the comeback man Shikhar Dhawan, as there is already a fierce competition for the middle order spots between, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, and Dinesh Karthik.

However, it is also possible that MS Dhoni gets promoted at No. 4 position as nowadays he takes some balls to get his eye in. On the other hand, Karthik might get a game ahead of Pandey, especially after seeing his performance in the one-off T20I against Windies in July this year and he can also be the backup wicketkeeper. Coming to the bowling department, both the wrist-spinners should be tested in the shortest format as well along with veteran pacer Ashish Nehra, who will get the support of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.

Here is the Cricshots’ probable XI of India for the first T20I:

Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal.