2nd T20I: India win the toss, elect to bowl vs Australia. Jasprit Bumrah comes in, and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar misses out. Also Rishabh Pant is back in the playing XI and Umesh Yadav has been left out.
India and Australia lock horns in the 2nd T20I of the three-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha on Friday.
After electing to bowl, India skipper Rohit Sharma said,” We’re going to field first. It’s nice, there are so many people who have come to watch us. It is nice to get a game. These games are challenging ones because you don’t know what to do. You just have to go out and express yourself. Hopefully we can put up a good show.” He further added,” Since it is an eight over game, we had to make two changes: Bumrah comes in for Umesh Yadav. Bhuvi misses out too and Pant comes in.”
Australian on the other hand also made two changes to their playing XI. Aaron Finch also said,” We would have bowled first as well. Chasing in a small gave would have been good. We’re happy with the way we played and the execution. We have two changes: Ellis is injured and Sams comes in. Sean Abbott comes in for Inglis.”
India playing XI:
Rohit Sharma(c), Rishabh Pant(w), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Australia playing XI:
Aaron Finch(c), Matthew Wade(w), Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Tim David, Pat Cummins, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Australia won the first game by four wickets and lead the series 1-0. Opener KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya attacked the opposition bowlers and powered the hosts to a 200 plus total. However, poor death overs bowling saw Mathhew Wade take them game away with four balls to spare.
India’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness status will be a matter of attention when an out of sorts Indian team will look at course correction options to keep the three-match series alive.
Bumrah, who has been out of action since the end of England tour, skipped the Asia Cup due to back injury. However, to everyone’s surprise, the team management didn’t play him during the high-scoring first T20I in Mohali, raising doubts whether he has still attained peak fitness or not.
