Lagatar24 Desk
Dubai, Oct 20: In the T20 World Cup, the warm-up match between India and Australia will be played on the Dubai ground on Wednesday. Both teams are coming off wins in their first warm-up match respectively. India won against England in a comfortable manner by 7 wickets in the first warm-up match. Australia, on the other hand, are coming off a close win over New Zealand.
This will be the last chance for Team India to test their preparations before the great match against Pakistan on October 24. Some players of the Indian team were disappointed with their performance against England, while Ishan Kishan presented his strong claim for the playing XI with his stormy batting. R Ashwin has also returned to the T20 team after four years. Ashwin might not have taken a single wicket in the first warm-up match, but he bowled very economically. In such a situation, Captain Kohli will be on the lookout for a better team combination before the start of the Super 12 against Australia.
Star opener Rohit Sharma was rested against England but is expected to play against Australia today. Worryingly, Rohit is not in form at the moment. His performance in IPL Phase-2 was disappointing. Only 131 runs came off his bat in 6 innings. Rohit Sharma’s form matters a lot for Team India in a big tournament like the World Cup. Before the match against Pakistan, Rohit will have a good chance to return to his form. In addition to this, Hardik was not seen bowling even in the first warm-up match. If Pandya does not bowl in this match too, then it means that he will be seen as a finisher in the tournament. However, in such a situation, it will not be easy for him to make a place in the playing XI, because Hardik can get a tough competition from Shardul Thakur. Shardul has been in excellent form and in the IPL also he impressed with his batting on the tour of England, taking 21 wickets in 16 matches.
Talking about Australia, many players of the team are in good form. Team India will definitely need to be careful especially with Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell was seen in amazing form in IPL Phase-2 and scored 290 runs in 8 matches. At the same time, in the warm-up match against New Zealand, Kane Richardson took 3 and Adam Zampa took 2 wickets. However, David Warner’s form is a cause of trouble for the team. He was dismissed for zero against the Kiwi team, while in IPL Phase-2 too, his bat scored only 2 runs in two matches.
Both the teams will want to go ahead into the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 with a win in this match.
