2nd T20I: Short comes in as Australia elect to bowl first against unchanged India

Melbourne, Oct 31 (IANS) Matthew Short has come into Australia’s playing eleven as skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second T20I against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday.

Cricket Australia (CA) previously said public tickets for Friday’s game were officially sold out. A win for either of the two teams will give them a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, after rain washed out the opening game at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, just 9.4 overs after the game began.

After winning the toss, Marsh said Short replaces Josh Philippe in the hosts’ playing eleven. “We are going to bowl first. Looks a good one, hopefully it won't change for 40 overs,” he said.

India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said his playing eleven is unchanged. “That's the brand of cricket we want to play, (attacking) as soon as we go in. It starts with Abhishek, he has been setting the tone along with Gill. Shubman Gill, he knows how to score runs and with him you have to run hard as well between the wickets,” he said.

In his pitch report, former Australia captain Aaron Finch described conditions at the venue as "overcast and cold", noting that the surface might slow down slightly as the match progresses. However, Finch felt it was a "brilliant wicket for batting," suggesting run-scoring opportunities should be plentiful early on in the game.

Playing XIs

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Short, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Josh Hazlewood.

--IANS

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