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India might have edged in front
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Four games left in series
- Sixth bowler may be issue for hosts
- MCG not big on runs
- Win rates remain viable
Australia v India
Friday 31 October, 08.15
TV: Live on TNT
Australia v India Second T20 team news
Australia were under pressure before rain came to their aid in Canberra. India got off to a rollicking start. The plan may be to get to Australia's sixth bowler, Mitch Owen, as soon as possible. It's where the injury to Matt Short hurts them. Short remains a doubt after a cut finger.
Josh Hazlewood plays his last game fore a rest. Adam Zampa was left out for Matt Kuhnemann and presumably the hosts will go with the same line-up.
Probable Australia XI: Marsh, Head, Inglis, Philippe, David, Owen, Stoinis, Bartlett, Ellis, Hazlewood, Kuhnemann
India got 97 on the board from 9.4 overs and looked set for a score of at least 200 before the rain in game one; Shubman Gill with 37 off 20 and Suryakumar Yadav with 39 from 24.
The XI they picked looked well balanced. Shivam Dube and Axar Patel were the two all-rounders with Nitish Kumar Redyy and Washington Sundar not involved. Reddy has a back injury and will miss out again. India paired Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakratharty in a menacing spin duo. That meant there was no room for Arshdeep Singh.
Probable India XI: Ahbhishek, Gill, Sky, Samson, Tilak, Axar, Dube, Harshit, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Varun
Australia v India Second T20 pitch report
In the last ten T20i at the MCG, the average first-innings score is 152. The bat-first win percentage is just 25. Do those trends hold up domestically? Sort of. The first-innings score is 163 with a 54% bias for the chaser.
The Bash form may be more relevant as there hasn't been a T20i at the ground since 2022. And four of the last six were all in the T20 World Cup that year so used surfaces may have been in play.
The overheads can play a part at the MCG. Currently no rain is forecast. A high runs line in the late 180s may have been influenced by India's fast start. We await Sportsbook total match runs quotes. Australia's average over the last ten is 163 with India on 167.
Australia average 9.,6 sixes per game and India 8.2 in the last ten. That may have influenced a quote of 114.5 for total sixes from Sportsbook. The average in the last ten at the 'G is 7.8. Unders is available at 10/111.91.
Australia v India Second T20 match prediction
Game one was pretty much a choice affair and the match odds market did not see enough from almost ten overs in Canberra to alter a views. It could be argued that snapshot more than hinted at possible Indian dominance.
Australia are 2.0421/20 outsiders with India 1.9420/21. That's pretty much bang on what it was pre-toss for game one. Before Canberra the suspicion was that India were the more powerful unit. They - and their backers - would have been more than happy with their position before the abandonment.
Games change in a moment, of course, but with India boasting better bowling balance, that sixth option for Australia may have meant that the visitors could have really punished them.
Back India
Australia v India Second T20 ODI player bets
Ten overs are required for a top bat or bowler bet to stand so the win rate numbers remain. Abhishek Sharma, the opener, has 29% returns from the last 24 (matches post last World Cup). Tilak Varma, at 4/15.00, is at 25%. With the ball, Kuldeep has five wins in the last eight top India wicket-taker market. So it's short-term versus Varun's long-term 29% (24 matches). Kuldeep is 3/14.00 and Varun 10/34.33. For Australia, Mitch Marsh has the best rate at 21% but that's no good with odds of 10/34.33.