Manu: “Indian team management should have released Nitish Kumar together with kuldeep as I don’t think they will include him in the playing XI when Dube is there”
6pm Righto, so four changes for Australia, a couple of them on expected lines. I am a tad bit surprised with Mitch Owen missing out. I felt he was a lock-in for these five T20Is. Glenn Maxwell and Josh Philippe come in, so does Adam Zampa for Matt Kuhnemann, while Ben Dwarshuis also comes in as a pace-bowling option. India are playing the same team, which means there is no place for Sanju Samson for the second game running and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Bunty: “Remaining 2 T20Is should be taken as battle for rankings. A relatively weak Australian team would love to topple World Champions and No. 1 ranked team off the summit while a strong India team will look to show its dominance.”
Faiyaz: “This is a half baked Australian team, hope India can capitalise on it.”
Playing XIs
Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Tim David, 5 Josh Philippe, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Ben Dwarshuis, 10 Nathan Ellis, 11 Adam Zampa
India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Axar Patel, 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Jitesh Sharma, 8 Shivam Dube, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
5.45pm Toss: Australia captain Mitchell Marsh has the coin. India captain Suryakumar Yadav calls tails; it is a head and Australia will bowl first.
Mitchell Marsh: We will bowl first. We don’t play a lot here. Wonderful to be here, we just want to have as much information about the surface as we can. Both teams are pumped up. We have four changes, Zampa, Dwarshuis, Maxwell, Philippe are coming in for four other guys.
Suryakumar Yadav: This is what you play bilaterals for. Beautiful ground,nice and big one and everything to play for. Preparations have been good. We had a good practice session yesterday. It looks like subcontinent conditions. We were looking to bat first. The pitch looks similar to Indian conditions, so we want to put in the runs on the board. Same team.
Not long before the toss.
5.35pm It’s not often an India series is overshadowed but, in many Australian cricket circles at least, this T20I series is not the major talking point, writes Andrew McGlashan in his preview. There are few links in Australia’s squad for this series to the upcoming Ashes with Travis Head and Sean Abbott having been released, while Josh Hazlewood was released after Melbourne. Josh Inglis, who will have a quick turnaround into Sheffield Shield cricket after the series is done, is the only one who remains who is among those to be involved in Perth. Even for India, Kuldeep Yadav has been released, while Nitish Kumar Reddy may be available again after injury.
rajith: “no ‘head’ ache for india tonight , right?” Nope
Sanket: “Finally in the last game India understood that playing Jitesh in that lower order finisher is far better option than playing Samson. Also that puts more pressure on Shubhman that he needs to step up here and despite the continuous opportunity from the ASIA cup he has not been able to nail the spot or even put one solid performance. With Sanju or even someone like Jaiswal waiting he needs to score runs and shut the noise”
5.25pm Andrew McGlashan, who has made the journey to Gold Coast and is settled in nice and early has an update for us: “Evening from the Gold Coast for just the third men’s international at this ground. It’s perfect conditions as the sun sets. Spotted Adam Zampa walking in with the Australian team so he may be available. Awaiting confirmation. Also waiting to see whether Glenn Maxwell makes the side tonight. India’s have just reached the ground.”
5.15pm Hello and welcome to the ball-by-ball commentary for the fourth T20I between Australia and India. The five-match series 1-1, moves to Carrara, in Gold Coast. After a washout in the opening game, and Australia winning comprehensively in Melbourne, India were excellent in leveling the series in Hobart. The chase was an example of their immense batting depth in T20 cricket. Can Australia bounce back and take an unbeatable series lead in the series or will India continue their winning march. I am Ashish Pant, and will be your eyes and ears from what’s expected to be a riveting contest. Strap in, it’s going to be a ride.
