Team India had their pace-bowling all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy, unavailable for the ODI series finale in Sydney due to a quadriceps injury and the 22-year-old continued to be on the sidelines even in the T20Is. The BCCI confirmed that Reddy was ruled out of the first three T20Is as his recovery from the quad injury was delayed by a neck spasm and might take a week or so to come back to full fitness. Harshit Rana, the pacer, was drafted into the side in place of Reddy.
"Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out for the first three T20Is. The all-rounder, who was recovering from his left quadriceps injury sustained during the second ODI in Adelaide, complained of neck spasms, which has impacted his recovery and mobility. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring his progress," the BCCI statement on Wednesday, October 29 read. Reddy had replaced Hardik Pandya in India's T20 squad for the Australia series and hence, India had to adjust their playing XI a bit.
Australian skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and opted to bat, saying that the surface at the Manuka Oval looked a good one and that it would stay good for batting for the whole 40 overs. However, his Indian counterpart, Suryakumar Yadav was of the contrary view, saying that the wicket might get slow later on and hence, got what he wanted - bat first.
India kept the likes of Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar and Rinku Singh out, while Australia played Josh Philippe ahead of Matt Short.
Playing XIs
Australia: Mitchell Marsh(c), Travis Head, Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Philippe, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
