Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field first against Australia in the first T20I of the five-match series at Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
With this series, both the teams, who were also 50-over Cricket World Cup 2023 finalists, start their hunt for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which will be held in June next year in the West Indies and the USA.
Indian skipper Suryakumar said, "We will bowl first. The wicket looks good, dew should come later and should make the pitch better. It is a little difficult (recovering from a World Cup final loss), but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Lots of positives (from the World Cup) and looking forward to the series. The guys have played a lot of franchise and domestic cricket, just told them to express and enjoy themselves. Washington, Shivam and Avesh are sitting out."
Australian skipper Matthew Wade also said at the toss, "We would have bowled first as well, looks a bit tacky and dew could come later. Always an opportunity for young players to play in India, just around 10-12 matches for the next WC and we are looking forward to it. Some WC guys are resting - Maxwell, Zampa and Head are not playing tonight."
India (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna.
Australia (Playing XI): Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade(w/c), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha.
—ANI