Published on 07:46 PM, December 01, 2023

Australia opt to bowl against India in 4th T20

Australia's captain Matthew Wade (L) gestures to his Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav after the toss before the start of the fourth Twenty20 international cricket match between India and Australia at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur on December 1, 2023. Photo: AFP

Australia skipper Matthew Wade won the toss and elected to field first against India on Friday as they look to level the Twenty20 series without most of their ODI World Cup stars.

The tourists, who trail the five-match series 2-1, bounced back from two losses to win their previous match and now eye drawing level at 2-2 in Raipur.

Glenn Maxwell, who hit a match-winning 104 not out on Tuesday, flew back home along with many of the recent ODI World Cup-winning players including Marcus Stoinis.

Steve Smith and Adam Zampa had already left the series midway after Australia, who beat hosts India to lift the ODI World Cup on November 19, began with defeats.

Travis Head remains the only player from the World Cup-winning team in the Australian side.

Shreyas Iyer returns to a second-string India team, led by Suryakumar Yadav, after he opted out of the first three matches following his team's runners-up finish in the 50-over World Cup.

India are hoping to clinch the series on a ground where evening dew is expected to play a part and make bowling difficult in the second innings.

Teams

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar

Australia: Josh Philippe, Travis Head, Ben McDermott, Aaron Hardie, Tim David, Matthew Short, Matthew Wade (capt, wk), Ben Dwarshuis, Chris Green, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha