India vs Australia T20I series: Suryakumar and Head in the spotlight

After a lukewarm ODI World Cup where he scored 106 runs at an average of 17.66, Suryakumar Yadav will return to his favourite format. He is the No. 1 T20I batter in the ICC rankings, but Australia exposed a weakness in his game in the final on Sunday. They challenged him with slower bouncers with a deep third and a fine leg in place. They might continue with the plan in the T20Is.

In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar will also have the added responsibility of leading the side. He has captained Mumbai 36 times across formats in domestic cricket, and Mumbai Indians once in the IPL, but this is the first time he will lead at the international level. It needs to be seen if that will change his batting style.

While the two teams focus on this series, and the T20 World Cup build-up, the IPL franchises will be keeping an eye out for the potential buys for the mini-auction, scheduled for December 19. And one player has to be on everyone's radar: Travis Head.

Head, who was the Player of the Match in the ODI World Cup semi-final and final, has been part of the IPL previously; he played ten games for Royal Challengers Bangalore across 2016 and 2017. Batting mostly in the middle order, Head registered decent numbers but nothing spectacular.

But ever since his comeback to the Australia national side last year, he has been a different gravy opening the innings in ODIs and, of course, across formats. He has played only three T20Is so far this year but in one of those games, he smashed 91 off 48 against South Africa. A couple of similar knocks and he could be in for a big payday come the auction.

Shubman Gill has been rested for this series, but otherwise, he is India's first-choice opener in T20Is. That leaves Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Yashasvi Jaiswal fighting for the role of the second opener.

Given Gaikwad is the vice-captain for the first three T20Is, one would assume he is ahead of the other two in the pecking order and will start. Meanwhile, Kishan provides the wicketkeeping option, and Jaiswal, apart from being capable of giving explosive starts, can roll his arm over. It will be interesting to see who walks out at the start.

With Mitchell Marsh rested, Matthew Wade will lead Australia in this series. However, he is not sure if he will be the first-choice wicketkeeper at the World Cup next year.

Josh Inglis has already replaced Alex Carey in the ODI squad. The last time Australia played a T20I series, against South Africa, Inglis played all three games while Wade warmed the bench. But since Wade is the captain for this series, he will be expected to play all five matches and, therefore, will have an opportunity to strengthen his case.

Sanju Samson has never got an extended run in the T20I side. At the same time, he hasn't been able to make the best use of whatever chances he has got. He played all five T20Is when India toured the West Indies and the USA earlier this year. He got three innings, in which he scored 32 runs at a strike rate of 114.28. Overall, he has a T20I average of 19.68 with just one half-century in 21 innings.

While his IPL record in the last three years is much better (average 32.60, strike rate 144.56), he bats mostly at No. 3 there. Right now, the selectors seem to be looking for someone who can bat at No. 5 or 6. That's why they seem to have shown faith in Jitesh Sharma, who has been impressive in those slots in the IPL.

Yuzvendra Chahal, too, seems to have lost the selectors' backing. After being dropped for the ODI World Cup, he has been left out of the T20I squad as well. Against West Indies, Chahal picked up five wickets in as many T20Is at an economy of 9.05. In comparison, Kuldeep Yadav took six in four matches going at only 5.75. With none of India's first-choice bowlers particularly good with the bat, a dip in bowling form has made things difficult for Chahal.