Preview: India vs Australia 1st T20I at Brisbane

Brisbane, Nov 20 - India will take on Australia in the first T20 International contest between the two sides to be played at the Gabba here on Wednesday. India will enter the series after defeating the West Indies 3-0 at home

The middle-order comprising Lokesh Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav along with stumper Rishabh Pant have also performed decently and are expected to shoulder the responsibility in case the top three fails.

Coming to India's bowling, the death over specialist duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will lead the attack, also comprising rookie left-armer Khaleel Ahmed.

The spin department will be manned by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and left-armer Krunal Pandya, also a handy lower order bat.

On the other hand, Australia's batting fortunes will revolve around the trio of skipper Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Short, who have all scored more than 400 runs in T20Is this year. 

But the Kangaroos will hope for a better show from the others if they are to fancy any chances against a strong Indian bowling.

It will also be interesting to see if Australia would once again be tempted to opt for a three-pronged pace attack, considering their loss with the same combination against the Proteas in the recent one-off tie.

In such a scenario, Andrew Tye and Billy Stanlake will be the first choice pacers, with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis while Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar comprise the spin attack.

India vs Australia Teams:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant (WK), Lokesh Rahul.

Australia: Aaron Finch (Captain), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (WK), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Ben McDermott, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

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IANS