Yuvraj Singh will be playing in 1st T20I against Australia at Adelaide ©Getty Images
When India and Twenty20 (T20) cricket culminate, the audience reminisce when India won the inaugural edition of ICC World T20 2007, defeating their arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs. Team India played its first T20I on December 2006 against South Africa and they won it by six wickets. As of 2015, India stands at a lowly 8th in ICC T20I team rankings. With India set to play their first T20I match of the year against Australia at Adelaide on Tuesday, exciting cricket dominated by the batsmen can be expected from both the teams. Shruti Hariharan looks into some T20I Indian cricketers who the Indian cricket fans can look forward to:
1) Virat Kohli: This right-handed batsman made his T20I debut in 2010 against Zimbabwe and scored reasonable runs of 26 not out from 30 balls, though he came in as middle-order batsman. Slowly, Virat Kohli moved ahead and it was in 2012 when Kohli stood out as T20I player with his highest being 78 not out against Pakistan in Colombo at 2012. He holds the top spot with total of 1,016 runs in T20Is. Thinking of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one can easily strike chord with Kohli and his impeccable innings of 99 in 2013. Given his current form, fireworks in the limited-over series from the 27-year old can be expected. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia, 1st T20I at Adelaide
2) Yuvraj Singh: Though he did not achieve the required spot in ODI squad for Australia Tour, watch out for some flying boundaries in the T20Is series beginning from Tuesday. The second best spot will be Yuvraj’s, with his total being 968 runs in T20 cricket. Yuvraj’s six sixes against England in 2007 during ICC World T20 simultaneously secured his fastest fifty off 12 balls, and India emerged as winners by 18 runs is an innings worth remembering. India will happily welcome its superstar cricketer in international cricket once again.
3) Rohit Sharma: Rohit Sharma began his T20I career from 2007 against South Africa in ICC World T20 tournament scoring his half-century and was the highest run-scorer for his side. He did not have reasonable innings in following limited-over matches and, eventually proved his skills when he scored his maiden T20I century against South Africa in 2015. He showed tremendous potential in ODIs against Australia at Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. He is one player Australia should be wary of. READ: India vs Australia T20I series 2015-16: Aaron Finch says, Australia have plans for Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina
4) Hardik Pandya: The hard-hitting Baroda batsman Hardik Pandya comes in and cracks up the innings in domestic matches. Pandya smashed 39 runs in an over against Delhi to surpass the T20 world record in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16. He was also a key player for Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPL) which curved his T20 innings and it was recognised by Indian cricketers that helped him earn his much awaited spot in T20I series against Australia. It will be interesting to watch how his domestic T20 skills transform at T20Is stage. READ: India vs Australia 2015-16 1st T20I at Adelaide: India keen to make winning start
5) Ravichandran Ashwin: After earning the top spot in ICC Test Rankings of bowlers, he leads with total 29 wickets with a strike rate of 22.3. His best innings in T20I was 4/11 against Australia in World T20 and India won comfortably by 73 runs. Ashwin was left out for a major part of the ODIs in Australia and if he comes in for T20Is, it will surely boost up India. Ashwin and Harbhajan partnering against Australia can also be a potent bowling line-up.
(Shruti Hariharan is Content Writer with CricketCountry. You can follow her on Twitter at @Shruti_2890)