Preview: India Vs Australia 1st T20I at Brisbane

India

Strengths

India possesses an in-form top order having two of the world's best batsmen in limited overs cricket, if either of them gets going it is very tough to stop them and that is going to be one of the major worries for Australia.

In the bowling department, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Kuldeep, and Chahal provide attacking and wicket taking options to the team. They are arguably one of the strongest bowling units India have ever had.

Weaknesses

It has to be the middle to lower order. #4 onwards the batting lineup is just not as established as the team would have liked it to be.

With Hardik Pandya missing, India are also lacking a fast bowling allrounder, something that could prove to be essential in Australian conditions.

Player to watch out for..

Although it's Virat who is coming back after a break, all the hype train currently points towards Rohit Sharma. He's scored massive amounts of runs recently and even the Aussies seem to be taking a keen interest in him. With the match to be played on a belter of a track in Brisbane, it could just be the ideal condition for him to start the tour on fire.

India T20I Squad: Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed

Australia

The Aussies look like a pale shadow of what they used to be

Strengths

It has to be the firepower in batting. Finch can win them a match on his own. So can Lynn or Maxwell or Short.

It's a potent Bowling line up as well with Stanlake earmarked to be a star for the future and Andrew Tye, one of the best T20 bowlers in the whole world.

Weakness

It has to be their approach to batting. Their batting lacked serious application even in the T20 against South Africa. It was a bit like mindless chickens throwing their bat around on every ball and it was not even a surprise that after the first four overs, Australia were already on the backfoot, and ended up losing soon after

If their batsmen are willing to spend some time in the middle, it would create a world of difference to their results.

Player to watch out for...

Home ground, home pitch, coming out to open the batting for your team. The stage is set. Will Chris Lynn finally deliver?

Australia T20I Squad: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa

Verdict

A more settled batting line up, a more balanced bowling line-up. India might be a bit too hot to handle for the Aussies. Smart money is on India winning this one.