India Begin Turnaround Bid Against New-look Aussies

India begin turnaround bid against new-look Aussies
By Updated: 01:13 BST, 1 February 2012

Twenty20 international cricket player Vinay Kumar of India bowls during a practice session in the nets in Sydney

Their reputations bruised and battered after a humiliating loss in the Test series, India will be desperate to turn their fortunes around and restore some pride in the limited-overs games, starting with the first T20 against Australia in Sydney on Wednesday.




The Indians slumped to their lowest ebb in the longer version of the game last week when Australia completed a 4-0 thrashing in the Test series.


But with some fresh legs in the form of Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Rahul Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be hoping for lady luck to smile on him in the first of the two T20 matches ahead of the tri-series, featuring hosts Australia and Sri Lanka.




Thankfully for the Indians, the present Australia T20 squad, under the captaincy of George Bailey, does not have menacing fast bowlers.

George Bailey (pictured) is nervous about the challenge of proving his credentials both as a batsman and captain

The only pacer with some credentials is veteran Brett Lee, who has long retired from Test cricket.




Meanwhile, Bailey, only the second Australian cricketer to be named captain on debut in any format, is nervous about the challenge of proving his credentials both as a batsman and captain.

'I'm nervous about both.
The playing aspect, you're always anxious to get out there and perform really well.


'Once I get my head around knowing the players as well as I can, that (captaincy) will fall into place nicely.


'Being captain, it's about getting around the bowlers who I haven't met as much and know about their games and just working out exactly what they need as well,' he said.




SQUADS: India: MS Dhoni (capt), G Gambhir, fluxbb.alfonsotesauro.net V Sehwag, V Kohli, Rohit Sharma, S Raina, P Patel, Rahul Sharma, Zaheer, R Ashwin, U Yadav, Praveen, Vinay, I Pathan, R Jadeja and M Tiwary.


Australia: George Bailey (capt), David Warner, Travis Birt, Daniel Christian, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Brett Lee, Clint McKay, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Matthew Wade and Brad Hogg.