T20I series: Time for Shubman Gill to up the ante as India look favourites vs Australia

Shubman Gill will be looking to turn the tables with a big knock after what has been an underwhelming tour when a confident India aim to go one up against a depleted Australia in the fourth T20 International here on Thursday.

The series is locked at 1-1 after three games and the absence of Josh Hazlewood in the previous game did make a difference to Australia's defence of a standard total of 186.

Going into the fourth game, there won't be any Travis Head for Australia as the opener is set to play Sheffield Shield to prepare for the Ashes.

With two pillars of the rival team unavailable, this is the best chance for India to go 2-1 up before the final game at the Gabba and wrap up a series win.

In the last game, India finally did look to get their combination right within their ambit of having an all-rounder at No. 8.

However, what will slightly bother the Indian team management is skipper Shubman Gill's form in the series as he has now played six games without a half-century.

The sequence of scores since the start of the ODI series reads 10, 9, 24, 37 not out, 5, and 15. The only time he looked in good nick was at Canberra when he stitched a nice little stand with skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Gill has been troubled by fuller deliveries with a hint of movement and throughout the better part, he hasn't exactly looked in the regal touch which has made him the player that he is.

At the other end, Abhishek Sharma has done his reputation no harm as the world's No. 1 T20 batter with a fine half-century and two quick starts in the series.

However, Gill, who will have to switch on to the red ball mode in a week's time, will certainly get a lot of confidence if he gets some runs irrespective of the format he is playing.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav has shown some glimpses of his vintage self in the first and third matches with two good starts.

But he would also like to get some runs under the belt now that there will be a month-long break before the next series against South Africa.

In between, one would expect Suryakumar to play Mumbai's Ranji Trophy game against Puducherry.

The bowling department, with the inclusion of Arshdeep Singh, looks way more compact even as Kuldeep Yadav has been sent back to prepare for the Test series against the Proteas.

The team management's main issue has always been that both Kuldeep and Arshdeep can't be played together. If Kuldeep plays in these conditions, then Harshit Rana, with better batting skills, needs to be fitted in.

When Arshdeep plays, they have to somehow get a Washington Sundar inducted and one saw the result as his 23-ball 49 decisively swung the third game in favour of India.

The Australian side will depend a lot on skipper Mitchell Marsh and Tim David for the firepower in batting. With no Head in the line-up, Marsh might have Matthew Short as his opening partner.

However, it is the bowling department where Australia need to do some rejigging as Sean Abbott certainly didn't look the part and one among Ben Dwarshuis or Mahli Beardman might just come in his place.

Teams:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis (wk), Josh Phillippe (wk), Mitchell Owen, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa, Mahli Beardman, Benn Dwarshuis,Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Marcus Stoinis.