India vs Australia: 3 talking points ahead of Men in Blue's T20 World Cup warm-up fixture

India will take on the defending champions Australia in their opening T20 World Cup warm-up game on Monday. The match is slated to start at 9:30 a.m. IST at The Gabba Stadium in Brisbane. With just one week until the start of the World Cup's main event, both teams will work to find solutions to their playing XI issues. Although Indian captain Rohit Sharma has already selected his starting lineup for the tournament opener against arch-rivals Pakistan, there are still a few issues the team would like to address for their other games in the tournament. 

Mohammed Shami may play first T20 in a year

Mohammed Shami may be tested by the Indian team management in the opening warm-up game on Monday. Jasprit Bumrah's injury has led to the addition of Mohammed Shami to the World Cup roster. Shami, meanwhile, has not yet played in a game after recovering from COVID-19 and hence he needs some real time match experience under his belt before the start of the main event on October 23.

Yuzvendra Chahal or Ravichandran Ashwin? 

Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal would likely be the only two full-time spinners used by the Indian team management in the playing XI. As a spin-bowling all-rounder, Axar Patel is anticipated to replace Ravindra Jadeja, leaving Rohit Sharma to choose between Chahal and Ashwin. Given his recent results in the shortest format, Chahal is sure to receive approval from the team management, at least for the first ffew games.

Kohli-Rohit could return

Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli could play in the first warm-up match against Australia on Monday. While Rohit played in the two practice games against Western Australia XI earlier this week, Kohli was sitting on the bench and did not get any game time. The practice match against Australia will most likely feature all the players who are going to be part of the playing XI for their opening encounter. 

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami. Backup players: Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. 

Image: BCCI