India is one of the only 2 countries (with England being the other one) in the world that can field 2 completely different XIs for two different formats and still end up winning it. Such is the depth of the Indian squad and its resources.
The aforementioned scenario might come true as India’s one of the T20I matches clashes with the red ball practice game against Australia A and India will have to segregate the players which shouldn’t be much of an issue as the test specialists will slot in to play the red ball practice game against Australia A. Let us try to predict the possible XI for both the matches.
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India have picked a very good squad as far as T20Is are concerned although some prominent names like Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant are missing. They shouldn’t have much of an issue in assembling a strong T20I XI.
The orange cap holder in the recently concluded IPL in KL Rahul and the 2nd leading run-getter in Shikhar Dhawan will be opening for India in the shortest format.
The middle order will have the likes of 3 anchors in Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey.
The lower middle order will boast of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. They both are in very good form at the moment.
The pace trio of Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini should pose a threat to the Australians in the T20Is but India may consider splitting their two main men in Mohammad Shami and jasprit Bumrah as Deepak Chahar might play the T20I which allows either of Moahmmad Shami or Jasprit Bumrah to take part in the practice game. Yuzvendra Chahal will be the leader of the spin attack.
Possible T20I XI
KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
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The 4-day practice match will present a massive opportunity for the youngsters like Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant to prove a point as a strong statement here would help them to stake a claim in the Indian test side in the 4-match test series.
Two of the dynamic and dashing openers in Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw will open with Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari to follow suite.
The southpaw Rishabh Pant will slot in at #7 and also will look after the wicket-keeping duties.
The bowling attack will have two fringe players in Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini with Umesh Yadav leading the pace bowling battery. Ravichandran Ashwin will be the leader of the spin attack in the red ball.
Possible XI for 4-day practice match
Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Mohammad Siraj
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