Published: Jan 31, 2016, 01:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 31, 2016, 12:40 PM (IST)
India and Australia will face off for the final time of this tour in the third Twenty20 International (T20I) at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday. India lost the One-Day International (ODI) series 4-1, but came back brilliantly to win the T20Is 2-0. They have been undefeated since their victory in the fifth ODI, which incidentally came at Sydney itself. India will be looking for a clean-sweep to avenge their ODI series loss. It has been a rather stark reversal for India; they batted first and lost in the first three ODIs, but have batted first and won both T20Is. Australia have been outplayed in all departments of the T20I series so far. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 3rd T20I at Sydney
Australia are fielding a team that is grossly different to the one that played the ODI series. The likes of Shane Watson — leading the side in the absence of the injured Aaron Finch — and Chris Lynn were there only for the T20Is, and have been joined by the in-form Usman Khawaja for the final T20I. Finch’s injury opened the gates for Khawaja, who has been in mind-boggling form this Australian summer across formats. His run with Sydney Thunder, which resulted in their maiden Big Bash League (BBL) title, was nothing short of amazing. FULL CRICKET BLOG: India vs Australia 2015-16, 3rd T20I at Sydney
India have been a dominant force in this series so far, with Virat Kohli leading the way with the bat. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan too have done well, while MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have made contributions. Meanwhile the spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have ensured India have not faced any trouble from the Australian batsmen, though Finch batted well in both matches. Yuvraj Singh and Harduk Pandya too have had a bowl, though neither of them have batted yet. Jasprit Bumrah and Ashish Nehra have bowled well with both new ball and old, so India will be looking forward to a clean sweep.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(c&wk), Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra.
Australia: Shane Watson(c), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Bancroft (wk), James Faulkner, John Hastings, Scott Boland, Andrew Tye, Shaun Tait, Nathan Lyon.
