Australia will play their first warm up game of the ICC World T20 2016 against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Saturday. Australia have come into this tournament after beating South Africa in a T20 series recently.
Steve Smith & co. will find it a little difficult to acclimatise with the Indian conditions initially. But the Australian captain believes that most of the players in his side have played in the IPL and that will help them do better in the ICC World T20 2016.
"Traditionally we haven't done as well as we would have liked in this format. This is a tournament that has eluded us so we're here to try and win it," Smith was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.
"We have all certainly played a lot of T20 cricket. We know how to play the game and if we do it to the best of our ability we are going to be a tough side to beat."
"I think IPL has been great in the development of a lot of players from all around the world. The experiences we have had from the IPL will hold us in good stead for this tournament. A lot of us know what to expect, what the conditions are going to be like. What it's like playing in front of big crowds here in India. We're really excited."
Australia have not really played a lot of T20 cricket after the ICC World T20 2014 and they have struggled in the shortest format of the game. India handed them a 3-0 whitewash earlier this year at their own backyard.
Aussie seamer Josh Hazlewood feels that his side will have to improve in order to do well in this tournament.
"We obviously don't play as much T20 cricket as some of the other nations, and even in these conditions we don't play as much," Hazlewood said.
"I think we definitely could play T20 a little bit more leading into big tournaments like this and probably in conditions that we are going to face in the tournament. In the future that's something that we have to look at."
A series win against South Africa have definitely given them the right push to usher well in this big-ticket tournament.
Meanwhile, West Indies were hammered by India in their first warm up game and Darren Sammy & co. will look to bounce back quickly ahead of the start of the main stage of the ICC World T20 2016.
Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles will look to give their side a similar start at the top of the order just like they did against India. But they will have to hold on to their wickets in order to outclass the Aussies.
If Gayle stays there in the middle for more than 10 overs, the world knows what he can do to the bowlers in this format of the game.
The bowlers will have to step up to the occasion. Ordinary bowling will not help against Australia or any other team in these conditions. Sammy will have to keep the basics right as the captain and ask his players to play their natural game.
Squads:
Australia: Steve Smith (C), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill (wk), Andrew Tye, Shane Watson, Adam Zampa.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (C), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle,Jason Holder, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Johnson Charles, Evin Lewis.
Where to follow live:
Australia vs West Indies warm up game is set to begin at 3 p.m. IST (2:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 a.m. GMT, 5:30 a.m. ET).
Unfortunately, there will be no channels broadcasting the ICC World T20 2016 warmup game between Australia and West Indies. The live streaming option is also not available in the Indian sub-continent.
Cricket.com.au will stream the game live in Australia.
Cricket fans can, however, follow the scores and updates and live commentary on the ICC website.
