1st T20I: Australia elect to bowl against India

Canberra: Australia won the toss and chose to field first against India in the first T20I here at the Manuka Oval.

The BCCI has confirmed that Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the first three T20 Internationals. The all-rounder, who was recovering from a left quadriceps injury sustained during the second ODI in Adelaide, has now complained of neck spasms, which have further affected his recovery and mobility.

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said, “We would like to bowl first. Looks like a good surface, most times we come here, a good ground, good crowd, looking forward to it. Both sides are stacked with a lot of power. They are the number one side in the world. So, we are up and about for the contest.

“All teams around the world are pushing their bill towards the World Cup. We are excited to test ourselves with the number one side in the world. We have 11 players. A few batters, few bowlers and few all-rounders.”

India captain Suryakumar Yadav said, “We were looking to bat first. It looks like a good wicket. I have heard from our analyst that there haven’t been many games played here at this venue. This wicket gets slower in the second innings. We wanted to bat first.

“We have been here 3-4 days before the game. Though it was cold for the last couple of days, it looks good today. Looking forward to have a good game. I can tell who is missing out. Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy.”

Playing XIs:

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Philippe, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood

IANS