06 December,2020 07:06 AM IST | Mumbai | Gaurav Joshi
India's captain Virat Kohli (C) celebrates with teammate Thangarasu Natarajan after he dismissed Australia's Glenn Maxwell during the T20 cricket match between India and Australia at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Pic/AFP
In a rare occurrence, Sydney will host two separate matches featuring some of India's best players on Sunday. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) will host the second T20 at night, but during the day, India's Test stars will battle it out against a strong Australia 'A' team at the Drummoyne Oval.
The day could easily have been a cricketing bonanza for Indian cricket fans in Sydney. However, due to Covid-19 protocol spectators will not be permitted at the Drummoyne Oval. SCG will only be at 50 per cent capacity.
The players who are only part of the Test squad did not travel to Canberra and instead spent four days at the SCG nets, preparing for the Test series that starts on December 17 in Adelaide.
For some players, it is their first outing in Australia and they would be keen to prove themselves against a solid Australian pace attack that consists of James Pattinson, Jackson Bird and Michael Neser.
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There is also a strong chance that Jasprit Bumrah will also feature in the India 'A', meaning he will not participate in the remaining two T20I matches. The Indian team management is keen for Bumrah to get sufficient game time ahead of the Test series and at the same time is also wary of the fact that fast bowler has adequate time to recover between matches.
By the time the opening day of the India 'A' match is completed, all the focus will shift to the SCG. After a slow start to the white-ball series, India have found form and are 1-0 up in the T20 series. The two-paced pitch in Canberra provided some aid for the Indian bowlers, but the pitch at the SCG will be a lot batting-friendly.
The Indian batsmen have yet to showcase their full potential as a unit in the four white-ball matches. A lot of the runs have been scored by Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. If the likes of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan can lay a strong platform on Sunday, we could finally see the Indian team pile on the runs.
The big selection headache will be to find the right person to replace Jadeja. If Pandya can bowl four overs, India could strengthen their batting by including Shreyas Iyer. Alternatively, Washington Sundar will be promoted to No. 7 and Yuzvendra Chahal will come in for Jadeja.
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