After suffering a heart-breaking last-ball defeat in the first Twenty20 International against Australia, India will have their shot at redemption on Wednesday. And two players who are likely to play pivotal roles in the second and final match are vice-captain Rohit Sharma and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
In the series opener at Vizag on Sunday, Rohit failed to fire and as a result, India missed out the opportunity to set a big total. The 31-year-old managed only five runs in the match, and he will hope to contribute substantially in the Bengaluru face-off.
And the Hitman has the perfect motivation to go for the broke. The Bengaluru match will be his 300th T20 match. If the Mumbaikar turns up in Bengaluru, he will join Mahendra Singh Dhoni (301) and Suresh Raina as the only Indians to have play 300 or more T20I matches.
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Also, Rohit (102) needs two sixes to overtake New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and West Indies batsman Chris Gayle (both with 103 sixes) as the batsman with most sixes in T20Is.
Bumrah, who almost won the first match single-handedly, is also on the cusp of creating a record. All he needs is two wickets to become the most successful T20I bowler for India.
The record currently belongs to Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner has 52 wickets in 46 matches. Bumrah, on the other hand, has 51 scalps in 41 matches.
India lost the first match by three wickets as Australia chased the target of 127 runs.
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After the T20Is, both the teams will engage in a five-match ODI series.
