India vs Australia 2018-19 : All Set to Clash Down Under

Indias Tour of Australia

Indias Tour of Australia

India’s Tour of Australia, 2018-19

India is starting its Australian tour with the three-match T20I series in Brisbane on 21st Nov 2018. The tour down under has always been testing for the Indians but this time around it is being touted as the best chance for the Indians to win their first test series against Australia in their own backyard. India has lost both the away series in South Africa and England but this team under Virat Kohli has shown sparks and signs of definite improvement from the past visitors who wore Indian caps.

The opportunity is really big considering that the fulcrum of Australian batting was jolted badly with the bans on Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft. The Australian team if I may call is a mess right now but in adversity only you know people who have character and in this lies Australia’s biggest chance of redemption. It is a known fact that no team travels well nowadays and this Indian team in spite of the huge promise is no different.

Both the teams have settled bowling lineups but it remains to be seen whether Virat will go with the regular test specialists in the spin department. Ashwin’s record overseas, especially outside Asia, does not inspire confidence and with Kuldeep in the line up whether he will even make the eleven remains to be seen. Remember Virat played Karn Sharma ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja in his first test as captain in Adelaide 4 years ago.

Batting is where the problem lies with both the teams. India has a gun top three in shorter formats but when it comes to Test cricket there is nobody other than Virat Kohli who inspires confidence. Ajinkya Rahane is a shade of the man who took apart Mitchell Johnson and company in Melbourne test during the last tour. Murali Vijay who was a huge success on the last tour is not even a certainty in the playing eleven. Prithvi Shaw is on his first away tour and against Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, and Lyon he will find what real test cricket is like. For Australia Usman Khawaja, if fit, is the only batsman who inspires some confidence at the test level. In shorter formats also Aaron Finch is the sole torchbearer. They recently went down in T20 and the ODI series against South Africa in their own backyard just a week back.

For now, let us focus on the T20Is and have some fun. Below is the itinerary of the schedule and the teams that have been picked by both the countries for respective formats.

SQUADS FOR INDIA TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2018-19

India
India T20I Squad: Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed

India Test Squad: Virat Kohli(c), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Australia
Australia T20I Squad: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam

Australia has not announced their Test Squad yet.

Itinerary :

Date Match Detail Time
Nov 21, Wed Australia vs India, 1st T20I
The Gabba, Brisbane
2:30 PM
09:00 AM GMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL
Nov 23, Fri Australia vs India, 2nd T20I
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
1:30 PM
08:00 AM GMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL
Nov 25, Sun Australia vs India, 3rd T20I
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
1:30 PM
08:00 AM GMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL
Dec 06, Thu – Dec 10, Mon Australia vs India, 1st Test
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
6:00 AM
12:30 AM GMT / 11:00 AM LOCAL
Dec 14, Fri – Dec 18, Tue Australia vs India, 2nd Test
Perth Stadium, Perth
8:00 AM
02:30 AM GMT / 10:30 AM LOCAL
Dec 26, Wed – Dec 30, Sun Australia vs India, 3rd Test
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
5:00 AM (Dec 26)
11:30 PM GMT (Dec 25) / 10:30 AM LOCAL
Jan 03, Thu – Jan 07, Mon Australia vs India, 4th Test
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
5:00 AM (Jan 03)
11:30 PM GMT (Jan 02) / 10:30 AM LOCAL
Jan 12, Sat Australia vs India, 1st ODI
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
8:50 AM
03:20 AM GMT / 02:20 PM LOCAL
Jan 15, Tue Australia vs India, 2nd ODI
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
9:20 AM
03:50 AM GMT / 02:20 PM LOCAL
Jan 18, Fri Australia vs India, 3rd ODI
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
8:50 AM
03:20 AM GMT / 02:20 PM LOCAL