The India cricket team will look to register their second consecutive T20 series white-wash when they take on Australia in the third and final game of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli’s men have already sealed the three-match T20I series with wins in the first two matches, and the Men in Blue will now go for a clean sweep in Australia. A win on Tuesday could see India managing a record back-to-back series whitewash as they arrive at the game with a 5-0 T20I series win against New Zealand earlier this year.
India have also extended their winning streak in T20Is to 10 games, thereby breaking arch-rivals Pakistan’s record, who had won nine T20I games on the trot in 2018. Team India’s last defeat in T20Is came against West Indies back in 2019, following which they have defeated Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia.
Furthermore, the Men in Blue have not lost an away T20I since February 2019.
India will also look to complete a second T20I series whitewash over Australia in their backyard after MS Dhoni's men had thrashed the hosts 3-0 in 2016.
Meanwhile, a whitewash for India against Australia will equal Afghanistan’s 11-consecutive win record as the team will move up to the second spot in ICC T20I rankings.
India vs Australia head-to-head count in the shortest format favours Virat Kohli’s men, who have won 13 matches of the 22 T20Is played between these two nations, with Australia claiming eight victories. Momentum is rightly on India’s side and they will look to clean sweep the T20I series. So with that being said, we take a look at some preemptive stats ahead of India vs Australia 3rd T20I:
Dhawan's away record a concern for Aussies
India opener Shikhar Dhawan surpassed MS Dhoni to become the country's third-highest run-scorer (1641) in the shortest format of the game following his quick-fire half-century on Sunday in the second T20I. Of those 1641 runs, a whopping 768 runs (46.80%) have come in away conditions at an average and strike rate of 29.53 and 143.82 respectively. Six of his 11 T20I half-centuries too have come away from home.
| Shikhar Dhawan in T20Is: | |||||||||
|
Conditions |
Match | Innings | NO | Runs | % of Runs | Avg | BF | SR | 50 |
| Home | 27 | 26 | 2 | 702 | 42.78 | 29.25 | 592 | 118.58 | 4 |
| Away | 27 | 26 | 0 | 768 | 46.80 | 29.53 | 534 | 143.82 | 6 |
| Neutral | 9 | 9 | 1 | 171 | 10.42 | 21.37 | 154 | 111.03 | 1 |
Should Wade continue to lead Australia in T20Is?
Australia’s stand-in skipper Matthew Wade made his T20I captaincy debut on Sunday. Throughout his career across the shortest format, Wade has performed impressively as captain as compared to just being a wicket-keeper batsman. Additionally, Wade’s opening batting numbers have also been quite impressive in the last four years of T20s, amassing 1,134 runs at the average of 43.62 across T20Is. He has accumulated these many runs at the strike rate of 151.60, including a ton and 11 fifties.
| Matthew Wade’s T20 comparison: |
||
| As Non-Captain | Metrics | As Captain |
| 105 | Match | 25 |
| 88 | Innings | 24 |
| 1529 | Runs | 1001 |
| 21.54 | Average | 45.5 |
| 124.01 | Strike Rate | 156.41 |
| 0/7 | 100s/50s | 1/10 |
| 100/50 | 4s/6s | 88/37 |
| 7.95% | 50+innings % | 45.83% |
| 12.98% | Boundary Balls % | 19.53% |
Yuzvendra Chahal’s inconsistent returns
After bowling a match-winning spell in the first T20 match of the three-match series, Yuzvendra Chahal recorded expensive figures in the second Australia vs India T20I encounter as he leaked 51 runs in his quota of four overs. Since 2019, the Indian leg-spinner has bowled at an economy of 9+ in nine out of 17 innings in T20I.
| Highest percentage of innings with 9+ economy in T20s since 2019: | |||
| Players | Innings | Innings with 9+ economy | Innings with 9+ economy % |
| Mustafizur Rahman (BAN) | 11 | 6 | 54.55 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal (IND) | 17 | 9 | 52.94 |
| Lasith Malinga (SL) | 14 | 7 | 50.00 |
| Joshua Little (IRL) | 12 | 6 | 50.00 |
Stats to keep an eye on:
3 - India have played three T20Is at this venue and won all of them.
8 - Virat Kohli has won eight consecutive T20Is as captain of India.
6 - If India manages to win the third T20I, it will be the sixth instance where Team India has inflicted a whitewash in a bilateral series with minimum three matches.
3 - Aaron Finch is three sixes away from completing 100 sixes in T20Is and can become the first Australian to do so.
1 - Virat Kohli needs one more six to complete 300 T20 sixes. Meanwhile, Dhawan requires one more six to complete 50 sixes in the shortest format of the game
1 - India will become the first team to inflict three whitewashes against the team playing at their own backyard (excluding neutral venues). Currently, India and England have two whitewashes to their name in a bilateral series of three or more matches.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / David Gray
