Australia vs India Twenty20: Who Will Win?

Australia vs India twenty20 match is now the center of all attention in the cricket world. The match will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The match is now about a few hours away with fans are eagerly waiting to see another Australia vs India clash. It is always a bit hard to predict when two teams like Australia and India are playing each other. After an exciting test series which Australia won by 2-1, now the expectation form the two sides has bee increased among the fans. Though India lost the series, they could put on huge pressure on Australia and stopped their winning run at 16 straight victories in test cricket.

However, some non-cricketing matters are still out there ahead of the match. Following Harbhajan Singh’s successful appeal against his three match ban for alleged racist remark to Andrew Symonds, now Australian media, players and fans are not satisfied with the verdict given by John Hansen, a Justice from New Zealand, who was appointed by ICC to handle the appeal of Harbhajan Singh. Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed his dissatisfaction over the verdict given by the Justice.

Sydney Morning Herald reported:

New Zealand judge John Hansen, who heard the appeal, apportioned much of the blame to Symonds for starting the spat.

"Right the way through this, he has had a fairly amazing knack of when things have gone against him or gone bad that he's been able to play some of his best cricket as a result," Ponting said.

Harbhajan Singh was handed a three match ban by match referee Mike Proctor for allegedly racially abusing Andrew Symonds during the Sydney test match. The incident hit the headlines of the newspapers. India even threatened to quit the series and decided not to move from Sydney until any action was taken on Harbhajan Singh’s three match ban. After getting support from Indian cricket board, Harbhajan Singh appealed against the decision to ICC and John Hansen was appointed by ICC thereafter, and Harbhajan Singh was allowed to go on playing pending his appeal.

Ponting has hinted that the controversies could inspire Symonds play another smashing innings against India. I think, that is what would be dangerous for India. If the likes of Andrew Symonds can play his game then the opponent teams have to go though some scary moments. Both Australia and India featured some youngsters in their squad. So, it is almost certain that both teams will use the twenty20 match as an opportunity to bring on some inexperienced faces in their final line up. David Hussey, who has been called up following his impressive domestic form, is the new face in Australia’s squad for the twenty20 match.

Reuters reported:

Fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clarke and spinner Brad Hogg were also overlooked, while Shaun Tait was not considered after announcing his retirement on Tuesday.

Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Nathan Bracken and Ashley Noffke were all added to the bowling roster while Brad Hodge and David Hussey, the brother of established international Mike Hussey, was selected for his international debut.

I think, Ricky Ponting and his deputy Michael Clarke have a lot to offer as the team is very inexperienced with Mathew Hayden being rested for the match. However, Ricky Ponting is not confirmed for the match yet as he is recovering from his back injury which he sustained during the fourth test of the series.

The Age reported:

"I didn't play the last Twenty20 game so if I'm fit I'll have to come back into the side somewhere, hopefully I do, so we've got a bit of discussion … mainly about the team and just mainly about how we want to approach this game," Ponting said.

"I injured my back last week in Adelaide obviously, been pretty much flat on my back for the last couple of days just trying to give myself the best chance to recover.

Indian squad also has some injury problems and they seem to be worst sufferer for injury woe. Their in form pacer Rudra Pratap Singh and in form batsman Yuvraj Singh, both of whom had an important role in India’s Twenty20 world cup victory last year, would not be able to participate in the match with injury. However, the team includes some young but talented cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina etc. So, they may not face that much problem to sort out the line up. However, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that India has taken the match as a practice match for the CB series ahead of them.

The Age reported:

"We will take the Twenty20 as one of the practice games," he said.

"We will look to win, but that's best that the reserve guys have come in and join the squad, so we need to get the best out of it and hopefully the weather will be better for cricket tomorrow."

So, you can see that India will feature a young side. Dhoni could not yet confirm if Harbhajan Singh will be there in the final line up. Considering the cricketing and non-cricketing sides, I think, the match is going to be a close match as both teams are eager to win. Australia is going to put their every effort in order to clinch a victory over India. Australia lost to India in their previous two meeting in twenty20, including the first one in the semi final of twenty20 world cup.

That is why, it is for sure Australia and India are going to appear with their best form today. As I have earlier mentioned that it is very difficult to give any verdict when Australia and India play each other in Twenty20. So, it is safer to say that Australia will have home advantage counted, while Indian team will include some young faces who will be inspired to give their best to win a place in Indian team regularly. Holding the poise down would also be very important for both sides. At last, I just hope to see an exciting match at the MCG.

Whom do you think to be the winner of the match?

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Australia vs India Twenty20: Indian Cricket Board Urges Players not to Involve in Verbal Conflict

Ahead of the Twenty20 match, BCCI, the regulatory body of Indian cricket, has called on Indian players to behave well. After the controversy of racial abuse that involved Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricket board does not want any further dispute to come by in the remaining days of the tour. That is why, BBCI has urged the players not to be involved in verbal conflict.

BBC reported:

"We have told the players not to get into altercations," said Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah.

"I don't think this will have any repercussions for the future," he said.

"So many such incidents have happened in the past, there have been heated exchanges in the middle and teams have gone on from there."

Now, it is clear that all are expecting the matter to be ended there. However, Australian cricket board is not satisfied with the verdict made by Justice John Hansen over the Harbhajan’s appeal against his three-match ban given by match referee Mike Proctor. Australian cricket board expressed their dissatisfaction in public, which, I think, could spark the public anger. So, Australian cricket board should not have talked about the verdict in public. However, I hope, Australian fans will prove themselves once again that how much passionate they are for the game.

Australia vs India Twenty20: India Takes the Twenty20 as a Warm-up Match

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that India is considering the Twenty20 match as a practice match ahead of the upcoming CB Triangular ODI series. However, it does not mean that he is not looking to win the match. Actually, Dhoni wants to win the match, but is interested to give a chance to the reserve players.

The Age reported:

"We will take the Twenty20 as one of the practice games," he said.

"We will look to win, but that's best that the reserve guys have come in and join the squad, so we need to get the best out of it and hopefully the weather will be better for cricket tomorrow."

India will miss their in form middle order batsmen Yuvraj Singh as he has been sidelined with a knee injury, while India’s ace bowler RP Singh was earlier reported that he would miss the match after he had picked up a hamstring injury during the fourth test at Adelaide. RP Singh is not confirmed for the CB series as well.

Indian team had to go with indoor practice today because of rain in Melbourne. However, it is expected that the weather will be clear when Australia takes on India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground tomorrow night. So, let us see if India can continue their impressive twenty20 form at the MCG.

Australia vs India Twenty20: Dhoni Says, Focus Back on Cricket

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of India’s ODI and Twenty20 side, has expressed that India has transformed their focus to tomorrow’s twent20 match leaving behind all the controversies. The dashing batsman has also said that India wants to play some good cricket. India will take on Australia in a twenty20 tomorrow at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

ABC News reported:

"There is always a chit-chat going on in between the players, whether it's opposition player or among the team-mates," he said.

"So until nothing controversial is said, I think both the teams will be happy with it. We can't just shut up and play because it's cricket and we've got to do lots of things with the bat and the ball and the fielding."

"We are here to play some good cricket and that's what we will do," he said. "We'll leave the past behind and we'll look to play some good cricket."

Australia and India played faced each other twice in twenty20 format of cricket so far with India winning on both occasion. Australia left out of twenty20 world cup being defeated to India at the semi final. Then India projected another Twetny20 victory over Australia. Now, let us see if Australia can take revenge of the two defeats by winning the tomorrow’s match.

Australia vs India Twenty20: Cricket Australia and Victoria Police Urges Crowed to Behave Well

Australia vs India Twenty20 match is now less than 24 hours away. With the match approaching, the fans of both sides are getting excited to see another mouth watering clash following a hard-clashed test series, which Australia won and thus confirmed the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.

Not only cricket was in the lime light during the test series but also there were some controversies, which needed ICC’s intervention to resolve the disputes. From bad umpiring calls to Harbhajan Singh’s three match ban for alleged racist remark to Andrew Symonds made the headlines of newspapers and became the much talked issue in world cricket. However, the good part is that, everything has been resolved after Harbhajan Singh being cleared of the racism issue after Justice John Hansen found lack of proof to bring a charge against Harbhajan.

Well, this is now expected that there would not have any more controversy in the matches to come. Though Cricket Australia has expressed their disappointment over the verdict and BCCI is quiet happy with Harbhajan Singh’s getting rid of the racial abuse accusation, it will not expectedly lead to any further problem in the Twenty20 and CB series.

Ahead of the Twenty20 match, Cricket Australia and Victoria Police have recently called on the crowed to behave well during the match. As Australian players are not happy with the verdict of Hansen over the Harbhajan issue, there is rumor that Australian fans will show text messages during the twenty20 match. That is why Criket Australia and local police are trying to make people calm down over the issue. Now, let us see if Australian fans go by the urge of Cricket Australian and Victoria police.

Related Article:

The Age

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Australia vs India Twenty20: Live match on ESPN-STAR

Australia vs India Twenty20 match has caught the attention of all cricket fans. Australia vs India cricket match is the centre attraction of all cricket loving fans. Fans of both teams from different countries are eagerly waiting to see the match. Australia vs India Twenty20 match will be held tomorrow at Melbourne Cricket Ground. It will start at 19:35 local time and 08:35 GMT.

India team is the first Twenty20 world champion team. And they are still unbeaten in this new format of game. Both Australia and India faced each other two times where India got win in all matches. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is expected to see a crowd more than 80,000 views. Players will have to go under huge pressure.

However, it will not be possible to see the match going on stadium. But we can enjoy the match on TV.

Most famous sports channel in South Asia, ESPN-Star, will telecast live Australia vs India T20 match live on Friday. ESPN will also telecast all the 15 one-day internationals of the commonwealth Bank cricket tri-series involving India, Australia and Sri Lanka that will start on Sunday.

In the triangular series, the three countries will play four matches against each other and the top two teams will be able to play the best of the three finals.

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