India vs Australia 2025 2nd T20 Predicted 11: Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson IN, Harshit Rana OUT for MCG clash
Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India will look to continue their unbeaten run in T20I cricket when they take on Australia in the second game of the five-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. The first game between the two sides was washed out due to rain at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday.
The Indian playing 11 is likely to remain the same with all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy out injured with a quadriceps injury for the first three games of the T20I series. Reddy was supposed to step into the shoes of Hardik Pandya, who is himself out injured since the Asia Cup 2025 tournament last month.
In Reddy’s absence, the team management is likely to play Harshit Rana ahead of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh due to his superior ability with the bat. Along with Rana, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel will be the other all-rounders in the line-up.
There was massive debate after the opening game if Arshdeep should be preferred over Rana. However, if the overhead conditions are especially suitable for the pace bowlers then the Punjab Kings seamer might come into the reckoning to return to the playing 11.
It will be interesting to see when Varun Chakravarthy will be introduced in the MCG clash especially against the likes of Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head at the top. The Australians are also likely to bring in Sean Abbott in place of Xavier Bartlett to keep their pace bowlers fresh in the T20I series.
It will be a special occasion for the likes of Nathan Ellis and Tim David, who are getting ready to play their first international match at the MCG. “I was just talking (to Marcus Stoinis) about the early days (in the BBL) where the Melbourne Derby would get 90-odd thousand and he was saying how exciting it is and how cool it is, running us through his experiences there. So really excited to play in front of a huge crowd at MCG, it’s an exciting prospect. A few of us have had that one in the calendar for a little bit,” Ellis said before the match.
India vs Australia 2025 2nd T20I match Predicted Playing 11
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Mitch Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Philippe, Xavier Bartlett/Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Matt Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
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