India Predicted XI For 1st T20I Against Australia: No Place For Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana?

India look to continue their brilliant run of form in the shortest format of the sport as the Suryakumar Yadav-led side takes on Australia in the first T20I encounter in Canberra on Tuesday. India clinched the Asia Cup 2025 title without losing a single game and the players will be confident of achieving similar success in Australia. The ODI series did not go according to plan for the visitors as India were defeated 1-2 despite winning the third ODI thanks to brilliant performances from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma is expected to open the innings with vice-captain Shubman Gill. Gill did not have a good outing in the Asia Cup and it will be important for the star batter to score big with Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal both in contention for the opener slot.

India's Asia Cup hero Tilak Varma is expected to bat at No. 3 with skipper Suryakumar Yadav at No. 5. While head coach Gautam Gambhir tinkered with the middle-order quite a bit during the Asia Cup, Samson is expected to bat at No. 5 with Shivam Dube at No. 6. 

Axar Patel is expected to be the other all-rounder besides Dube while Harshit Rana is likely to find a place in the playing XI after an impressive bowling performance in the third ODI match.

Coming to the bowling department, Varun Chakravarthy is expected to play as the only specialist spinner with Kuldeep Yadav missing out. While Kuldeep did bowl well in the third ODI, it is unlikely that India will go with three spin options. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are expected to be fast bowling options. 

India's predicted XI for 1st T20I against Australia: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh

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