India vs Australia 2nd T20 Preview: Siddharth Kaul may replace Umesh Yadav

With an eye on ICC World Cup 2019, Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli will look to make few changes in playing 11 when they lock horns with Australia in 2nd T20 International match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. India are down 0-1 after a poor batting performance in the first T20 match which Australia won by 3 wickets. Indian bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah did all it could to keep the home team in the game till the final over of the match while defending the below-par 126 runs.
 
Will Shikhar Dhawan brought back for 2nd T20?

 
India skipper Virat Kohli has already said that his squad composition for the World Cup in May-July is "more or less sorted" but has not ruled out rewarding standout performances over the course of two T20s and five ODIs. Considering the captain's current frame of mind, both K L Rahul and Rishabh Pant are likely to feature in most of the games against Australia.
 

India rested opener, Shikhar Dhawan, to give game time to Rahul, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands by smashing 50 off 36 balls in his comeback game. With the series on the line, it remains to be seen if Dhawan is brought back into the side to open alongside Rohit Sharma or the team retains the opening combination which featured in Vizag. "Anything is possible now. We want to give game time to Rahul and Pant to figure out what we need to do in the World Cup," Kohli said after the first T20.

 
Will Siddharth Kaul get a place in playing 11?
 
While Jasprit Bumrah showed his class after coming back from a break, the other pacer in Umesh Yadav leaked runs and was not able to defend 14 in the final over. India could replace Umesh with Siddharth Kaul. or bring in all-rounder Vijay Shankar to beef-up the batting department. The hosts played with a long tail in Vizag and that impacted their final total following an inexplicable batting collapse from 69 for one in the ninth over.
 
Can Dhoni silence his critics again?
 
All eyes will once again also be on Mahendra Singh Dhoni the batsman who struggled to an unbeaten 29 off 37 balls as India managed 126 for seven in Vizag. He was able to silence his critics with a solid showing in Australia and New Zealand but his rather slow innings on Sunday has got the tongues wagging again over his waning finishing abilities.

 
Australia Team news
 
Australia, on the other hand, will be fancying a rare series win against India in recent times, especially after losing the Test and ODI series at home to Kohli's team. They would be happy with their bowling on a slow surface in the first game but made a mess of the 127-run target after cruising at one stage. Australia somehow got over the line but they know that India won't be serving the series win on a platter and will come hard at them at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Captain Aaron Finch would love to be back among the runs and the team will be expecting another blinder from Glenn Maxwell, who hit 56 off 43 deliveries in Vizag.

 
Here are the playing 11 probables of both the teams:
 
India playing 11: K L Rahul, Rohit Sharma/Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik/Vijay Shankar, Krunal Pandya, Umesh Yadav/Siddarth Kaul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
 
Australia playing 11: Marcus Stoinis, D'Arcy Short, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb (wk), Ashton Turner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa

India vs Australia 2nd T20: Pitch and weather prediction
 
The weather in Bengaluru is expected to warm and pleasant with no signs of rain. While the pitch will be flat and on the slower side.

 
India vs Australia 2nd T20 Live streaming details
 
Date and Day: February 27, 2019, and Wednesday
 
Place: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
 
Time: 7:00 pm (IST)
 
India vs Australia 2nd T20 match will be available live on Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 in English Commentary and Star Sports Hindi HD in Hindi Commentary. One can also live stream the 1st T20 on Hotstar app and website.
 
Here are the squads of both the teams:
 
India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Sidharth Kaul, Mayank Markande.

 
Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), D'Arcy Short, Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa.