It is quite rare to see an Australia cricket team without the likes of David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and co when they are playing a strong team at home. However, there is a strong reason that Australia's best eleven will not be featuring in the T20 series against Sri Lanka, which starts on Friday at the MCG.
Australia vs Sri Lanka T20 series schedule
All the big Aussie players are in India for the four-match Test series, allowing players like Ben Dunk, Michael Klinger and co to shine in their national team colours. These players are also exceptional, and they should make their chance count against the Lankans, who could fancy their chances against a relatively less experienced Australian team.
With this series comprising three T20 matches, the first match of the competition is going to be of utmost importance, and the victorious team will have an edge going into the next two matches.
Australia will be led by skipper Aaron Finch, and he has all the ammunition, though some are inexperienced, in his team to fire against Sri Lanka. This may not be Australia's best team, but with players such as Dunk, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins and others, the series promises to be entertaining with a competitive Sri Lankan team.
Sri Lanka, who will be led by Upul Tharanga in the series, have a good squad and will be looking to beat Australia. However, the skipper is aware of the task ahead of him as most of the players, who are present in the Australian team, did well in the Big Bash League.
"If you look at their squad, everyone has recently played the Big Bash and have performed really well. I feel like they still have a really good team," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Tharanga as saying.
Not only are some of the Australia players inexperienced, Sri Lanka's top order comprising Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera and Asela Gunaratne look the same, though they have the services of Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera.
However, in the bowling front, they look much better with Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera, who have both been around in international cricket for some time.
With a drop-in pitch set to be used in MCG, the nature of the surface could be unpredictable, which could lead to a close encounter.
Where to watch live
Australia vsSri Lanka 1st T20 is scheduled for 7:40 pm local time, 2:10 pm IST, 8:40 am GMT start.
India: TV: Star Sports 2/HD 2. Live streaming - Hotstar
Australia: TV: Channel 9. Live streaming - Channel 9 live
Middle East: TV: OSN Sports 5 HD. Live streaming - OSN Live
US: TV: Willow TV.
