Australia vs India T20Is: Winners and Losers for the Indian Team

With the T20 internationals done and dusted there are many players who would be happy with how they performed during the series. At the same time, there will be a bunch who would be disappointed at how the series went for them.

With the World Cup just around the corner and many places still up for grabs in the Indian team, many players were striving to perform well here so that they're able to establish themselves as regulars.

Others had to perform because they came in here after a string of not so great performance. We take a look at who among the players will be happy and who would be disappointed with how the series went.

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Winners

#1 Dinesh Karthik

DK performed the role of the finisher to perfection

In this series, Karthik really served a notice to the Indian team management with his performances. India, desperately looking for finishers in the Limited Overs arena have stumbled upon someone who was able to perform that role to perfection.

Recently Rishabh Pant has jumped Karthik in the pecking order when it comes to being the first choice as a wicketkeeper (at least in Test cricket) but in this series twice there was a chance that landed in Pant's lap where he could have just closed the door on Karthik and won India the match.

Be it in the first T20I where Pant and Karthik forged a partnership that brought the team back in contention. Or be it in the Third T20I where India was in a spot of bother and they needed someone to just stay with Kohli.

On both occasions, it was Karthik who seemed to have a much more stable head on his shoulders and appeared to be a more capable batsman that actually was able to manoeuvre the ball in the gaps and not play reckless shots.

He's just thrown his name into the group of batsmen who would be aiming to fill that slot of a finisher for the team.

#2 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar was in the form of his life in this series

Gabbar really is back. Shikhar Dhawan was arguably the batsman of the series as there was hardly anyone who looked as comfortable as he did during the series. From the get-go, Dhawan was able to middle the ball and get the scoreboard ticking.

Dhawan came into this series on the back of an iffy series against West Indies where he scored a fifty in just the last match. With the emergence of Prithvi Shaw into the Test side as well, there were some question marks over his consistency but the way Dhawan has been scoring runs and timing the ball we can expect a lot more from him in the coming series.

With runs in these series, Dhawan can be certain that he has cemented his spot as the second opener in the team for the World Cup.

#3 Krunal Pandya

It all seemed to work out for Krunal in the end

5 matches 2 wickets, and a handful of runs. That's what Krunal Pandya had to show for himself after being part of the team for two series. This was a do or die game for the lad who had been a bit unlucky to have a had a couple of decisions go against him and not get much of a chance to contribute with the bat.

Even Harsha Bhogle pointed out at the dropped catch by Rohit Sharma and a review which overturned an LBW in the first game. It just appeared that Krunal's time was up. He's had his shot, 6 games with pretty much nothing to show for.

But then in the 2nd over's first two balls everything changed. Two balls two wickets and there was a sense of reassurance for the elder Pandya. Two more wickets later, Krunal ended with the figures of 4-0-36-4. He'd done his best to show he could contribute.

Losers

#1 KL Rahul

Another Series, Another Disappointment for KL Rahul (R)

KL Rahul, when on song is a complete package. But when you look at him these days you see someone who is uncertain and lacking confidence big time despite having everything needed to make it on the big stage.

Twice in this series, KL gave himself time to get going. Twice he was part of a partnership that helped India rebuild the innings. And on both the occasions he failed to kick on to win the match for the country.

It's becoming more and more of a trend with Rahul where he's not able to kick on to score big runs and is getting out too early. The last time Rahul scored heavily was his hundred in the last Test match against England and that's a long time ago.

India has given KL Rahul a big rope but it does seem like even that is coming to an end.

#2 Rishabh Pant

Pant should be disappointed by how he's batted on the tour so far

Pant has many things going for him. His age, his attitude, his flamboyance while batting and of course his natural talent. But for now, what doesn't seem to be going for pant is head. Pant as a batsman shows humongous amounts of talent. But then at the same time, for now, he shows he's still a bit rough around the edges

Pant, who must have won over a bunch of selectors with a responsible Hundred in England must have himself sowed the seeds of doubt in the minds of the selectors with the way he has batted in Australia thus far.

He needs to start using his head a bit more while batting and not focus on smashing every ball out of the park. He has the tools, but will he have the head to know when to use what?