India will be without pacer Deepak Chahar for the final game of their five-match T20I series against Australia in Bengaluru. Chahar flew back to his home ahead of the game due to a medical emergency and was replaced by Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. India, having won the previous encounter between the two, are assured of a series win; they lead 3-1 before the contest finale. (Match Blog | Cricket News)
Considering the toss and Chahar's situation, captain Suryakumar Yadav had this to say:
"We would have loved to bowl. As long as we are losing the toss and winning, we don't mind. I have told them the same thing, don't change anything. There is another chance to play international cricket in front of such a fantastic crowd, so just go out and express. The batting unit has delivered. Have told them to believe in themselves. One change, Arshdeep Singh comes in for Deepak Chahar, who has flown back due to a medical emergency."
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A few days on from their meeting at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 final, India and Australia renewed their rivalry, albeit in a shorter format. Australia beat India in the former, breaking the hearts of the 130,000 present inside the arena - and the many more watching from afar - to lift their sixth ODI World Cup title. However, shortly after, a fresh-faced Indian side avenged that defeat in Visakhapatnam, beating an equally changed Australian squad in a T20I thriller that went down to the penultimate ball.
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Seventy-two hours after their Visakhapatnam heroics, India repeated the feat in Thiruvananthapuram. The Men in Blue beat Australia by 44 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series, ensuring that a repeat of the result in Guwahati would hand them the series. That, though, wasn’t to be. Despite setting a mammoth 223-run target for their opponents to chase - courtesy of Ruturaj Gaikwad’s maiden T20I ton, India lost to Australia. Glenn Maxwell was the hero of the night, racing to a ton and helping his team cross the threshold on the final ball to cut India’s lead in the contest. 2-1, it stood, after the thriller in Guwahati.
The series in the balance, India and Australia met in Raipur to contest the fourth match of the series, where Australia restricted India to a modest total. However, the Indian spin attack came to the team’s rescue, collectively taking four wickets and giving up just 33 runs, and steered them toward a memorable triumph.
Squads
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer
Australia: Matthew Wade (c), Aaron Hardie, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
