India v Australia First T20i – 4 Bets To Take

Despite retiring from ODI cricket last week, Aaron Finch will lead the starting on Tuesday 20 September. The first match takes place in Mohali. Australia have won three of their last four T20I matches in India, so confidence heading into the series should be high. India come off a challenging and unsuccessful Asia Cup, which saw them lose matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before smashing Afghanistan.

There is a lot of pressure on Indian captain Rohit Sharma after his side’s failure at the Asia Cup. India have not reached a T20 or ODI World Cup final since 2014 so the public is hungry for success.

Virat Kohli

Since this series against Australia essentially serves as a warm-up for the World Cup, India will rely on their experienced heads, such as Virat Kohli, to get going. The great man is coming off a mammoth 122 from 61 balls that broke his famous 1021-day drought with his 71st international century.

The question of Virat Kohli’s position in the side may have been answered, but there is still that age-old dilemma of whether to stick with experience or look to the future immediately.

Jaspirit Bumrah

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was outstanding against Afghanistan when he took 5/4 from four overs, the 10th best T20I figures of all time. However, Jasprit Bumrah loves playing against Australia. Bumrah has dismissed Glenn Maxwell seven times from 65 balls faced for an average of just 10.71.

Josh Hazelwood

Australia will be without Mitch Marsh, Mitch Starc, and Marcus Stoinis for the series which is a big blow to the Aussie bowling attack. However, Josh Hazlewood will be playing and has been in some outstanding form in this format having amassed 20 wickets in IPL 2022 from just 12 matches.

Australia

India has won all three matches at this venue when batting second but we fancy Australia to win this match after India’s recent struggles in this format.