India’s white-ball tour of Australia heads to Canberra and the T20s on Wednesday when the sides play the first of their five-game series in the format.
The matches, which follow the one-day internationals (ODIs) between the sides, mark a crucial contest as the nations prepare for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
India, fresh from beating Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in September, have won seven of the last eight T20 internationals between the sides and will be heavy favourites to defend their world title on home soil next year.
media Sport takes a closer to look at the crunch clashes in the series to come:
The Australians beat the tourists 2-1 in the one-day international series that began the current tour. The Indians ended the 50-over part of the trip on a particular high, however, with an unbeaten partnership between centurion Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli steering their side to a nine-wicket win that ended fears of a white-wash by the hosts.
Australia won the first match of the series by seven wickets in Perth, while they claimed the second match by two wickets in Adelaide.
India’s legendary pairing of Rohit and Kohli announced their retirement from T20 internationals following the 2024 T20 World Cup victory in the Caribbean.
Both played key roles in the victory but called time on their T20I careers after the final, and would soon also call time on their Test careers.
The pair still remain in contention to play in the 50-over 2027 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
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