Australia vs India, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Toss - India bowl first

New tour, fresh start and it's been just a few days since India arrived here so no wonder they are looking to bowl first here. Australia have included Adam Zampa in place of Nathan Coulter-Nile even though most of us predicted the opposite to happen. India have left out Chahal from the 12 they announced yesterday.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant(w), Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, K Khaleel Ahmed

Australia (Playing XI): D Arcy Short, Aaron Finch(c), Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey(w), Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake

Build up

Not often have India entered the Australian shores as the favourites to win across all formats. Especially in the T20I format, India look very strong despite not having Hardik Pandya. Their best batsmen are playing here and their best bowlers are all available for selection as well. The form guide also points to an Indian domination and remember, India did blank the hosts 3-0 the last time they came here for a T20I series.

Australia, on the other hand, have found it hard to stitch together a few wins on the trot. They don't have momentum on their side and last week, they lost a shortened T20I to South Africa. Mitchell Starc isn't being considered for T20Is and rightfully so given his injury struggles and despite having Andrew Tye, one has to say that their strongest bowling attack isn't on the park. Batting-wise, a lot will depend on skipper Aaron Finch and Australia will hope that someone like D'Arcy Short can come to the party despite his struggles against spin. There should be good bounce on offer at the Gabba so the pace battle should be interesting.

Virat Kohli made plenty of runs in that T20I series last time these two teams played in Australia but with Dhawan, Rohit and Rahul set to bat in the top 3, he might not get enough deliveries to fetch a big score. Having already announced their 12, India will probably drop either Kuldeep or Chahal in order to accommodate the third pacer. Welcome to the live blog for this opening game of what promises to be an intriguing long Australian tour for India.