Australia, India aim to sort combinations with focus on T20 WC

 There’s been a major push by the Canberrans in the lead-up to the Indian team’s visit to the capital to try and promote as many of the local businesses as possible. Starting of course with the beer. And the Manuka Oval was served well for the third ODI on Wednesday with a lot of the city’s brewers getting a chance to showcase their frothy wares. The drive to push the locals to the forefront has been led by the Australian Capital Territory’s Chief Minister Andrew Barr himself.

You’re never too far away from cricket and politics coming together while in Canberra. The fact that the Manuka Oval has grandstands named after two of the most cricket-loving and popular Prime Ministers – Sir Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke – is only the most obvious sign of this blend. Even the bars, pubs and restaurants right outside the stadium often get a ripe mix of politicians and cricket celebrities rubbing shoulders. And even during matches, you’ll find a lot of important-looking people in their bespoke suits sipping on a beer in the grandstands.

But as Australia and India kick off their three-match T20I series on Friday (December 4), you wouldn’t expect just the locals but a lot of those from Sydney to drive down to not just watch the cricket but also do justice to the local brews on offer. The tickets for this game like with most of the white-ball ones involving India were sold out nearly the day they were announced. And though there will be a lot of Indian fans on view, which is now become so much of a norm that it’ll soon not even warrant a mention, there’s expected to be decent support for the Australians too. We are just about on the cusp of the Big Bash League (BBL) and the three games over the next five days – the next two will be played at the SCG – will act as the perfect appetiser for that. This is the closest after all that Aussie fans will get to see some of India’s biggest stars in T20 action.

This series was originally slated to be played as a warm-up for the T20 WC which will now take place in Australia only two years later. But the two teams will now use this opportunity to further settle their respective squads in preparation for next year’s event in India. It’s been a mixed bag of a year for the two in T20I cricket. Australia ended up losing their top spot to England after having dominated all comers last summer. India meanwhile clean-swept the Kiwis by a 5-0 margin in New Zealand and most of their players are coming off a decent showing in the IPL. Some of them like Deepak Chahar, Washington Sundar and Sanju Samson have been with the Indian squad from the time they arrived on these shores, but they’ve overall gone largely unnoticed.

The Aussies have been hit by a string of injuries and won’t be full-strength, like they weren’t for the third ODI. The T20Is series is placed interestingly between the ODIs, which everyone was looking forward to as the start of the most highly-billed tour in 2020 and the all-important Test series. But there’ll be no lack of interest or intent either in Canberra or when the teams return to Sydney.