Highlights
- India and Australia will lock horns against each other in three-match T20I series
- The series starts on September 20, 2022
- The first match will be played in Mohali
IND vs AUS, 1st T20I: Rohit Sharma-led team India crashed out of the recently concluded Asia Cup after facing back-to-back defeats at the hands of Sri Lanka and arch-rivals Pakistan. But amidst all this, team India will be highly relieved, relieved due to Virat Kohli and his return to form ahead of the much-anticipated World Cup. Members of the Indian cricket team and fans across the world now just have their fingers crossed and hope that Kohli can live up to the promise that he has shown.
Virat Kohli, against Afghanistan on September 8, 2022, scored a sublime 122* off 61 deliveries. This was his first international T20I ton and also happens to be the highest individual score by any Indian in the shortest format of the game. The Indian team on September 18, 2022, took to the nets and trained ahead of the Australia series. It was Virat Kohli, who grabbed all the eyeballs due to his aggressive approach and how he was stepping out to the bowlers in the practice session. Memories are still fresh of Kohli stepping out to the likes of Rashid Khan who is considered one of the greats in the T20I game. Notably, it is pretty evident that Kohli is trying to come out of his comfort and is trying to embrace team India's new attacking template. The former Indian captain also played some powerful pull shots in the nets and made his intent very clear for the series.
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Come the Australia series, Kohli will have new challenges at his disposal and will want to start the series on a high. As of now, Rohit Sharma's vision about the opening slot remains unclear. Rohit in a pre-series post conference said that Virat Kohli might be considered as an opener in a few games at the World Cup. This makes the conundrum around the Indian opening slot more exciting. India still have six T20Is to play before the World Cup and they will want to use it constructively and will want to work with a plan.
