Match Preview – India vs Australia, Australia in India 2023/24, 5th T20I

Big picture: 4-1 or 3-2?

A turnaround time of under 48 hours isn’t ideal but the Australians, Travis Head, Tanveer Sangha and Matthew Short, in particular, might not complain. The trio are the only ones in the current squad who have been in India since the start of the ODI World Cup – Head as part of the 15-man squad, Sangha and Short as travelling reserves – and will keenly be looking forward to going back home.

Australia have tried as many as 19 players so far in the series, ringing in the changes in a bid to give some of their exhausted players a break. They made five changes for the Raipur T20I but the reinforcements coming in failed to level the series. While they’ve taken the fast bowlers to the cleaners consistently, the Australian batting has been found wanting against the spin duo of Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel.

They could, however, expect some respite from the Bengaluru pitch, which has historically not aided spin as much as some of the other surfaces they’ve played on as Australia look to end their tour of India on a high.

While India haven’t been as clinical, what would please Suryakumar Yadav the most is the individual players standing up under pressure. Jitesh Sharma, playing his first game of the series came in and smashed a 19-ball 35 in Raipur while Rinku Singh showed that he was not just a finisher and had the technique to set up a total as well.

The fast-bowling unit is probably one area where the boxes haven’t been ticked, but Deepak Chahar’s return after an injury layoff will give India reasons to be happy. He didn’t have the best of starts to his spell but came back well later and struck two important blows. The team management will hope for a more rounded show from the fast-bowling attack come Sunday.

Form guide

India WLWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Australia LWLLW

In the spotlight: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Aaron Hardie

Team news: Expect more changes

India made four changes to their side for the fourth T20I, and with the series in the bag could well make a few more for the final game. They might be tempted to give Washington Sundar a game in place of one of Axar or Bishnoi, while Tilak Varma could also get a game, in case the team management wants to rest any of the players in the top order. India went with Mukesh Kumar, Chahar and Avesh Khan as their fast-bowling options in Raipur and are unlikely to make any changes on that front.

India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Shreyas Iyer/Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Axar Patel/Washington Sundar, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Mukesh Kumar

Australia don’t have the scope to make a lot of changes, considering they have only 13 players in the squad left. They could consider bringing in one of Kane Richardson or Nathan Ellis in place of Sangha.

Australia (probable): 1 Josh Phillippe, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ben McDermott, 4 Aaron Hardie, 5 Tim David, 6 Matthew Short, 7 Matthew Wade (capt,wk), 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Chris Green, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Tanveer Sangha/Nathan Ellis/Kane Richarson

Pitch and conditions: Another run-fest in the offing

Runs, runs and runs have been the theme at the Chinnaswamy Stadium of late. With short boundaries and a placid surface, another run-fest could well be on the cards on Sunday. In the IPL this year, scores in excess of 180 were breached in nine of 14 innings, and even in the ODI World Cup batters enjoyed their time here.

While the overhead conditions are likely to remain cloudy, there is no threat of rain with the temperature expected to hover around the 18 to 22 degree mark on the Celsius scale.

Stats and trivia

Quotes

“Throughout the series, he has been bowling very well. And our partnership has also been great. He’s bowled in the powerplay so have I, and that combination has been good.”
Axar Patel is enjoying his bowling partnership with Ravi Bishnoi