Former India player <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/1908/sanjay-manjrekar/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sanjay Manjrekar</a> believes <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3993/virat-kohli/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Virat Kohli</a> has got his &ldquo;power game&rdquo; back and is starting to look better and better ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Kohli had endured a lean patch for nearly three years before he decided to take a month-long mental health break, and then made a successful comeback in the Asia Cup.&ldquo;&hellip;right from the Asia Cup every match that he (Kohli) got runs, not just the runs, there was some improvement coming. I think the power game is back. He is trusting his power game. There was a time when he was getting runs but his power game was not coming at his beck and call. That is starting to happen,&quot; Manjrekar told in Sports 18&rsquo;s &lsquo;Sports Over The Top&rsquo; show.In Asia Cup 2022, Kohli slammed 276 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 147.59 and ended the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer. He also smoked 122* against Afghanistan and ended his three-year century drought. Kohli continued his good form in the just-concluded <a href="https://www.cricket.com/series/international/2619/australia-tour-of-india-2022/matches" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">T20Is against Australia</a>, crafting a match-winning fifty in the series-decider.&ldquo;During the Asia Cup, slowly and steadily, certain things start to happen, the pull shots came in, and the sixes started going more into the stands than just going over the rope as it was going in the IPL. So, the pieces are falling back to frame the perfect picture. Now it&rsquo;s all about putting all these kinds of performances in the main event,&rdquo; Manjrekar added.<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/5132/bhuvneshwar-kumar/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bhuvneshwar Kumar</a>, who has been brilliant with the new ball, has consistently been taken to the cleaners in death overs. The experienced campaigner has been terrible at the death, leaking 15, 14 and 19 runs in the 19th overs in less than three weeks. India were defending a total in each of those three encounters and went on to lose every single one of them. In the first innings of the third T20I against Australia, the 32-year-old bowled the 18th over and was hammered for 21 runs.&nbsp;&quot;With Bhuvneshwar Kumar, it&rsquo;s never a very simple answer but you&rsquo;ve got to give one of the simple answers and one of the main reasons why Bhuvi seems to be off the boil &ndash; is playing too much cricket. In the sense, that he&rsquo;s played all the matches coming into this series as well,&rdquo; he said.&quot;The Bhuvneshwar Kumar I have seen over the years, he&rsquo;s not one of the strongest guys going around, he&rsquo;s not somebody who takes a lot of workload, he plays one format and hardly any other. He&rsquo;s somebody if you notice, barring injury, if he comes later a break to play in any tournament, he is at his best in the first few games. So, I am going to put down Bhuvneshwar Kumar&rsquo;s current performance to just match fatigue.&quot;Talking about Harshal Patel, Manjrekar said: &ldquo;Harshal Patel has limitations as a seam bowler, but India must look as one of the third seaming options and must look at a couple of others as options and I keep stressing on Mohammed Shami as the other option.&rdquo;&nbsp;(With inputs from PTI)Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The former India player also feels that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is playing "too much cricket"

Sanjay Manjrekar

Virat Kohli

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Australia tour of India, 2022

South Africa tour of India, 2022

India

Virat Kohli's power game is back: Manjrekar

India have a pace headache &mdash; Jasprit Bumrah is the only guaranteed starter<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664195670847-articleimg" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">In an ideal world, India would have preferred to enter the T20 World Cup not only knowing what their best XI is, but having played a bunch of matches with the strongest possible side. But a month ahead of the World Cup, with just three games remaining, here they are &mdash; unsure who their second and third pacers in the XI are, Jasprit Bumrah being the only lock in the pace department.&nbsp;It wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be like this. For the longest time, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel were considered to be locked, the duo were expected to constitute the pace battery alongside Bumrah. But Bhuvneshwar&rsquo;s woes at the death coupled with Harshal&rsquo;s unremarkable return &mdash; 1 wicket @ ER 12.37 &mdash; has left everyone wondering what India&rsquo;s actual first-choice pace attack is.What&rsquo;s obvious is that Arshdeep Singh&rsquo;s claim to be in the starting lineup has gotten stronger following what unfolded against Australia. Whether he finds a permanent spot in the starting lineup, and who he subsequently replaces in the XI, might just depend on the developments that take place in the South Africa series.As things stand, it does seem like Harshal&rsquo;s place is more vulnerable than Bhuvneshwar&#39;s. For to go along with the fact that Bhuvneshwar is the only &lsquo;powerplay specialist&rsquo; in the 15, the management resting the veteran for the South Africa series suggests that they see him as a starter, at least for the time being.&nbsp;But at the same time, replacing Harshal won&rsquo;t be an easy call due to what he adds to the side with the bat in hand; in his absence, the team will be left with a significantly long tail.&nbsp;Given that Arshdeep has shown proficiency bowling with the new ball in both the IPL and in the limited T20Is he&rsquo;s played, there is, in fact, a case to be made that the left-armer should take Bhuvneshwar&rsquo;s spot, for such a move will keep the balance of the side intact.The management will be hoping to zero in on the first-choice pace attack by the end of the South Africa series, but there is a high likelihood that they might not. Perhaps they now regret the decision to rest Bhuvneshwar against the Proteas. &nbsp; &nbsp;Axar&rsquo;s bowling is a tick, India now need to get him involved more with the bat<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664195742389-articleimg" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">India no longer need to fret over how they&rsquo;ll replace Jadeja with the ball; against Australia, Axar showed that they arguably have a potentially better, more lethal bowler at disposal, someone that can prove to be an attacking option in the powerplay and torment right-handers all through the innings.Try and fathom this: versus the Aussies, Axar took more wickets (8) than every other Indian bowler combined. And yes, in a series where 974 runs were scored in 94.3 overs, he maintained an economy of 6.30. Six point three zero.He didn&#39;t simply put to bed doubts over his ability to feature as a frontline spinner. He did so by producing one of the greatest performances by a player in a bilateral T20I series.&nbsp;<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664195791947-articleimg" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">Axar&rsquo;s bowling, then, is a tick; India now know what exactly the left-armer can do with the ball in hand.His batting, however, on the other hand, remains fairly untested. Against Australia, Axar only faced 5 balls across three matches, less than ideal for someone that will feature in the Top 6/7, expected to play a distinct role that&rsquo;s vital to the team&rsquo;s overall plan. He also did not face a single ball in the entirety of the Asia Cup where he only featured in the clash against Afghanistan.It is one thing shielding Dinesh Karthik for an over or two by just occupying the crease, but come the World Cup, there might arise a situation where India might need to deploy Axar as a spin-hitter in the middle-overs (being the only left-hander) or rely on the left-hander to finish a game off. In that case, the management would want the all-rounder to be tested, prepared and ready to go.Thus India are in a position where they need to expose Axar more with the bat, to ensure he has sufficient practice. The three T20Is against South Africa provide the opportunity for just that. Especially in the absence of Hardik Pandya, who has been rested, the door is open even for a potential promotion to No.5 for the southpaw, who seems to have all but sealed his spot in the starting XI.&nbsp;Batting is finally&nbsp;settled but India still have two objectives for the South Africa series<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664195832313-articleimg" style="width: 800px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik.&nbsp;After months and months of experimentation, it does look like India have finally zeroed in on their top six. The only point of contention anyway was the place of DK but the Australia series made it clear that they see him, and not Pant, as the first-choice for the T20 World Cup.With Rohit, Kohli and Suryakumar all looking in sizzling touch against the Aussies, it seems like from a batting perspective, there are only two objectives for the South Africa T20Is: for Rahul to hit top gear and for DK to spend more time in the middle.In the first T20I in Mohali, Rahul showed glimpses of his best. For once he eschewed the &lsquo;anchor&rsquo; role and the result was spectacular: a blazing 35-ball 55 full of highlights. However, the Indian vice-captain wasn&rsquo;t able to kick-on from there and his series ended in disappointing fashion, registering scores of 1 and 10.&nbsp;Against South Africa, therefore, India will be keen to see Rahul hit top gear. Not just show glimpses of his best but actually dominate the series. Rahul finding form, really, will make India&rsquo;s batting a scary prospect ahead of the World Cup, particularly with the others already seemingly &lsquo;in the zone&rsquo;.Now the second objective.DK did what was asked of him in the Australia series, taking the team over the line in the crucial second game, but India would ideally want the wicket-keeper batter to spend more time in the middle. Dating back to the start of the Asia Cup, Karthik has astonishingly faced just 9 balls in total. While it is true that the peculiar role the 38-year-old plays does not demand him spending a lot of time in the middle, the last thing India would want is one of their Top six batters entering the World Cup undercooked.&nbsp;Additionally, with Pandya being rested, the three T20Is against South Africa could also provide Rishabh Pant with yet another chance to find his feet in the shortest format and bolster his confidence ahead of the World Cup, granted he gets picked ahead of Deepak Hooda.&nbsp;Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

India might have beaten Australia, but there is plenty of fine-tuning that still needs to be done

Harshal Patel

Jasprit Bumrah

With World Cup looming, India have one last chance to fine-tune plans

With a 2-1 series win over Australia at home, <a href="https://www.cricket.com/teams/4/india/form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">India</a> have further consolidated their position at the top of the ICC T20 International (T20I). Their win in the third T20I in Hyderabad helps them gain one ranking point and have now moved to 268 points. <a href="https://www.cricket.com/teams/1/australia/form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Australia</a> drop one point after the loss and are currently placed sixth with 250 points.The defending T20 World Cup champions will get a chance to make amends as they take on West Indies and England in a three-match series before they defend the trophy at homeIndia now have a seven-point lead over their closest rivals England, whose narrow three-run loss at the hands of Pakistan sees India increase the gap further.&nbsp;The seven-match series between Pakistan and England is now tied at 2-2 with the action shifting to Lahore from Karachi for the last three games. Pakistan, who are currently tied at third with 258 points could rise to the second spot if they win the remaining games.&nbsp;England however will maintain second place if they manage to win just one of the three remaining games in the series. South Africa too will have a chance to rise in the rankings depending on how they go against India in the three-match series, starting Wednesday (September 28).New Zealand, who are just one place above Australia in fifth with 252 points host Pakistan and Bangladesh for a tri-series on home soil next.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Sixth-placed Australia have however dropped one ranking point as a result of their loss

Australia

New Zealand

South Africa

England

Pakistan

India further consolidate position at top of ICC T20I rankings

<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3850/ravindra-jadeja/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ravindra Jadeja</a>&rsquo;s absence from the T20I series was expected to weaken India but the hosts found an able replacement in &quot;outstanding&quot; <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/62576/axar-patel/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Axar Patel</a>, said Australia coach <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3890/andrew-mcdonald/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Andrew McDonald</a>.Left-arm spinner Axar, who was shoed in as a like-for-like replacement for the injured Jadeja, impressed everyone with his bowling, ending as the leading wicket-taker in the three-match series.&ldquo;Axar, in particular, had an outstanding series. With Jaddu out everyone thought that it might become a bit of a weakness for India, but they&#39;ve found another one again, which tends to happen,&rdquo; McDonald said at the post-match press conference after India clinched the series.The Australian bowling attack, comprising the pace duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, was taken to the cleaners by the Indian batters. Asked if it&rsquo;s a concern heading to the World Cup, McDonald said: &ldquo;Across the series the run rate was high, it was entertaining cricket from the get-go. Bat dominated the ball, so there was really no place to hide for bowling units, in particular death.&ldquo;We worked our way through some plans. We saw some good results with some of the plans that we implemented that might be able to transition to the World Cup.&rdquo; McDonald added that <a href="https://www.cricket.com/teams/1/australia/form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Australia</a> will have reinforcements in the form of Mitchell Starc when they begin the defense of their World Cup title at home next month.&ldquo;The connection between here (India) and Australia might be slightly different, a little bit more bounce, different tactics. Mitchell Starc comes back into the picture being one of our best death bowlers. So, we feel like we&#39;ll get reinforcements there. The conversations always going to be can you get better at your death bowling? The answer to that is yes.&ldquo;We encourage our guys to make good decisions and execute them. Sometimes the batter out-executes you and we&#39;ve seen that with Hardik (Pandya) across the series. Suryakumar Yadav was outstanding today and he&#39;s gonna be dangerous in the World Cup but he showed what he can do.&rdquo;&nbsp;Australia were without a few of their World Cup-bound players due to injuries but the head coach feels the defending champions have enough depth to overcome the situation. &quot;It&#39;s fortuitous that some of the guys got the opportunity here. We got a couple of injuries which are concerning leading into a World Cup. You don&#39;t like to see some of your mainstay players out of the team leading in but we feel as though we&#39;ve got some good options in depth.&rdquo;&nbsp;In the absence of David Warner, who was rested, Cameron Green &ldquo;embraced the challenge of opening&quot;. The all-rounder amassed 118 runs, including two belligerent half-centuries to give Australia great starts.&quot;I&#39;ve asked him to show great intent on top of the order and everything that we&#39;re seeing so far shows that he&#39;s doing that. It&#39;s probably opportunistic the way that he&#39;s come into the opening position with obviously David Warner not being here and a couple of other players from our World Cup 15.&ldquo;And that&#39;s all you can do, given an opportunity... Before we came over here we thought he had the skill sets to be able to succeed there, and he&#39;s taken on some of the best bowlers in world cricket.&rdquo;Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The left-arm spinner impressed everyone with his bowling, ending as the leading wicket-taker in the three-match series

Andrew McDonald

Thought Jadeja’s absence would weaken India but Axar was outstanding: McDonald

India might have won the T20I series against Australia but the team management would surely be worried about their death bowling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been brilliant with the new ball, has consistently been taken to the cleaners in death overs. Meanwhile, returning from respective injuries, Harshal Patel and Jasrpit Bumrah too didn&rsquo;t have a great series.In the series-decider on Sunday (September 25), Bumrah conceded 50 runs in his four overs, while Harshal bowled only two overs, giving away 18 runs for one wicket. Overall, Bumrah picked up only one wicket in two games and leaked runs at 12.16, while Harshal too got just one wicket in three matches and conceded runs at 12.37.However, Rohit isn&#39;t too worried about Harshal&#39;s form and feels it won&#39;t be too long before he returns back to his best. &quot;Coming back from an injury is never easy. He missed cricket for close to two months. Whenever bowlers go through an injury phase and come back, it&#39;s never easy, so we&#39;ve not really judged him on how he has performed in these three games because we know his quality.&quot;He has bowled some tough overs for us in the past, and also for his franchise. We believe in his quality, whatever he has as a bowler. It&#39;s important to keep showing that faith and I&#39;m pretty sure he&#39;s also trying to rectify those mistakes. He&#39;s working hard on his bowling.&quot;As I see, in the nets, whenever we do have our training sessions, he&#39;s always working on his skills which is what you want. You want players to go out and keep improving. We talk about it all the time; we can see that happening. So, I&#39;m pretty sure he&#39;s not far from his best.&quot;Then there is Bhuvneshwar. The experienced campaigner has been terrible at the death, leaking 15, 14 and 19 runs in the 19th overs in less than three weeks. India were defending a total in each of those three encounters and went on to lose every single one of them. In the first innings of the third T20I against Australia, the 32-year-old bowled the 18th over and was hammered for 21 runs.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s important we give him that space. Because when you gave a guy like him in the team and the quality that he brings, we know that he&#39;s had more good days than bad days honestly speaking, in the last so many years we&#39;ve seen. Yes, of late it&#39;s been not the kind of performance that he would want, but that can happen to any of the bowlers,&rdquo; said Rohit.&quot;You can see the opposition as well, it&#39;s not easy to bowl at the death. But we&#39;ve been working on some execution plans and hopefully we can give him more options to bowl in the death and then he&#39;ll be as good as he was before. I don&#39;t think he&#39;s short in confidence, whenever I speak to him the confidence is there, you can have bad games but it&#39;s important to come back from that, and we want him to come back as quickly as possible, because he&#39;s bowled those difficult overs for us in the past.&rdquo;India are scheduled to play three more T20Is before leaving for Australia for the T20 World Cup. Going forward, it won&rsquo;t come as a huge surprise if India use Bhuvneshwar only with the new ball, leaving Bumrah and Harshal to bowl at the death. Young left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who was rested for this series, will be back for the three T20I against South Africa and will give Rohit another option at the death.&nbsp;&quot;From our side, we&#39;re trying to work out what other things we can do. Because when you&#39;re bowling in the death you can&#39;t be predictable, you need to have options to bowl on both sides of the ground and sort fields accordingly. Those are the things we&#39;re talking to him (Bhuvneshwar) about. Someone with that experience, it&#39;ll be easy for him to grasp all the knowledge that is out there.&quot;He&rsquo;s done it, it&#39;s there in his mind, it&#39;s not that he will completely forget what he&#39;s done as a bowler in the past, it&#39;s just that he needs to bring that out confidently and things will happen for him. As a team, as management, we believe in his ability, we know a guy like him who more often than not has done the job for us can have a few bad games. It doesn&#39;t mean that he doesn&#39;t have quality anymore. He definitely has it in him, just that for us it&#39;s time for us to show faith in him and keep backing his skillset, what he wants to execute.&quot;Rohit also spoke about giving more batting time to Dinesh Karthik. India have been alternating between Karthik and Rishabh Pant in their playing XI. While the latter was given the nod ahead of the veteran player in the Asia Cup, Karthik was picked for all three matches against Australia.&ldquo;I wanted both of these guys to have a number of games under their belt before the World Cup. When we went to the Asia Cup both of these guys were in the fray to play all games. But I just feel that Dinesh needs a little more game time. He hardly got to bat (this series). Just maybe three balls. So that&rsquo;s not enough time.&ldquo;Pant also needs game time obviously. But looking at how this series was it was important for me to just stick to that consistent batting lineup.&rdquo; India take on South Africa for a three-match T20I series, starting Wednesday and Rohit said Karthik and Pant&#39;s inclusion in the playing xi will depend upon the situation.&ldquo;I don&#39;t know what we&#39;re gonna do against South Africa. We just need to go and see their bowling, what sort of bowling lineup they&#39;ll play with, and who are the best guys for us who can handle that bowling lineup. It all depends on that. We want to be flexible in our batting. So if the situation or if the thing demands that we need a left-hander, we will bring in a left-hander if we need a right-hander, we will continue to do that.&nbsp;&quot;But we&#39;ll try and manage those guys pretty carefully. I do understand that they need game time before the World Cup but there are only 11 players you can play, unfortunately.&quot;(With inputs from PTI)Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The Indian skipper is also not too worried about Harshal's form and feels it won't be too long before he returns back to his best

Rohit Sharma

"Important we give him that space" - Rohit on Bhuvneshwar's struggles at death

An exciting series came to an end with a nail-biting finish. Batting first, thanks to an early onslaught by Cameron Green and late flourish by Tim David, Australia posted a big total of 186/7. India, in reply, were reeling at 30/2. But, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav changed the course of the game with a match-winning partnership of 104 for the third wicket. Despite the partnership, India sailed over the ropes with one ball remaining and sealed the series 2-1:India&rsquo;s 21st win of the yearEarlier, with a win against Pakistan in the first match of the Asia Cup 2022, India registered their most wins (17) in a calendar year. Post that, a win against Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Australia in the second T20I, helped them equal Pakistan&rsquo;s record of 20 wins in 2021.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664138308639-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">By winning this match and the series, India now have the most wins for a team in a calendar year of T20Is. Each of the four captains that have led India this year, has a win to their name. Rohit Sharma out of the lot has 15 wins in 20 matches, Hardik Pandya has three in three, Rishabh Pant two in five and KL Rahul one in one.Another blazing knock from GreenThe absence of David Warner was never a miss in this series for Australia. Cameron Green opening for the first time in his T20 career this series, gave Australia a flying start in the first game and this game.In the third T20I, Green registered a half-century inside the powerplay itself. He scored at a strike rate of 247.6 in the powerplay when no other Australia batter scored at more than 90. He reached the landmark in just 19 balls, which is the fastest by a batter against India in T20Is.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664138773008-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">Throughout the series, Green struck at 214.5. In a series in which an Australian batter scored 100+ runs, only Aaron Finch (236.8) against England in 2013, and Glenn Maxwell (224.5) against Sri Lanka in 2016, had a better strike rate.Bumrah&rsquo;s off dayThe above phrase is something we use very rarely. Jasprit Bumrah, the ace Indian bowler hardly misses his mark, and today was one of those games.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664138810558-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">In the first full 20-over game after his injury, the bowler went for plenty. In his four overs, Bumrah conceded 50 runs, which is the first instance. Previously, his worst spell came against West Indies in 2016, when he conceded 46 runs for his two wickets.Bhuvneshwar registers his 32nd wicket of the yearAnother premier bowler of India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had a mixed bag year. Despite blowing cold in this series, the pacer recorded a top record.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664138843615-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">After going past Bumrah&rsquo;s tally of 28 wickets in 2016 earlier in 2022, the best for an Indian bowler then, Bhuvneshwar in this match registered his 32nd wicket. This is the most wickets for a full-member nation pacer in a calendar year of T20I.Not a record Harshal wantedFollowing a good season of IPL in 2021, Harshal Patel made his T20I debut right after the 2021 World Cup. In the year 2022, he played most of the games. He has 20 wickets to his name, which is not bad. However, an unwanted record has been linked to his name.In the year 2022, Harshal has conceded 33 sixes, which is the most by a bowler in a calendar year in T20Is. He went past Adam Zampa&rsquo;s tally of 32 in 2018. Among Indians, no other bowler has conceded more than 25 in a calendar year.The six-hitting machineOverall in T20Is, Rohit might have the most number of sixes, but Surya is rapidly raising his six-hitting abilities. He has just batted 29 innings and already he has 54 sixes to his name. Out of which, 42 of those have come this year.<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664138878529-articleimg" style="width: 700px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">In T20Is, this is the joint most sixes hit by a batsman in a calendar year. With more matches to come this year, he will look for more. He has hit six every 8.9 balls this year, which is the fifth best among full-member nation batters who have hit 30+ sixes in a year.Virat surpasses Rahul DravidWith yet another match-winning knock, Kohli seems to be in the right zone before the World Cup. He missed out in the first two matches, but in the third T20I, he was back at his best.En route to his 48-ball 63 runs knock, Kohli went past Dravid&rsquo;s tally of 24064 to become the second most successful batsman for India in internationals. He now has 24078, still 10,279 runs behind the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Among Indian batters with 50+ international innings, Kohli is the only one to average 50+.A seventh wicket high against IndiaAustralia were derailed in the middle overs as they scored only 57 runs and lost four wickets in the nine overs phase. However, the seventh wicket partnership of 68 between Daniel Sams and David resurrected their innings.In T20Is against India, this was the first innings in which a seventh or lower wicket partnership forged a 50+ partnership. Previously, the duo of Nicholas Pooran and Romario Shepherd had put on 48 runs for the seventh wicket in 2022.A High scoring seriesThough the second T20I series was a curtailed one due to wet outfield, the series was never short of runs. In the first match, an aggregate of 400+ runs were witnessed. In the second, in just 16 overs, over 180 runs were scored. Today, a target of 187 was chased down by India.The three-match series witnessed a run rate of 10.3. In a T20I series where three or more matches were played involving a full-member nation, only in a series between New Zealand (Home) and West Indies in 2020, the run rate was higher (10.7). In India, this is only the second three-plus match series that has been scored at a run rate of 10+.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Here are some noteworthy stats from the third T20I between India and Australia in Hyderabad

Suryakumar Yadav

Cameron Green

Stats: India record most T20I wins in a year after Green’s fastest 50 feat

Just four T20Is old and an instant impact: <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/66870/cameron-green/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cameron Green</a> was a bright figure for <a href="https://www.cricket.com/teams/1/australia/form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Australia</a> in the series against <a href="https://www.cricket.com/teams/4/india/form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">India</a>. He barely made Australia miss David Warner at the top and with the ball, he managed to deliver a few quiet overs to keep the batters in check. In his short international career, he had already made an impact in Tests and ODIs, but now he has staked claim for a spot in a full-fledged T20I side, which is scary, to say the least given the depth Australia already possess in their armoury.His two fifties in the series saw him finish at the top of the run-getters list scoring 118 runs at a staggering strike-rate of 214.54. In the series-decider, Green had already made up his mind. He took on the bowlers in the powerplay and got to his fifty off just 19 deliveries. It earned him praise or two from his skipper Aaron Finch after the match.&ldquo;The series Green had was big as well. He is a super young player; he has shown his class. He has not played a lot of T20. He has taken it superbly,&rdquo; Finch said.&nbsp;This series was the first time ever he opened in T20 cricket and he showed that he is willing to adapt and deliver. But unfortunately, he was not able to find a place in the T20 World Cup. Would he have found a spot if the squad would have been announced after this series? Perhaps unlikely, but he would have certainly been in the conversation.&nbsp;Australia have six more matches to go ahead of the T20 World Cup and they would hope that Mitchell Marsh, Warner and Marcus Stoinis return to reclaim their place in the side. Add the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Josh Inglis and Tim David to the mix and Australia are spoiled for choices.However, if they were to be ruled out due to an injury, Green would certainly be first in line to replace them. He showed absolute disdain against anything that was on the stumps or just outside off.&nbsp;<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664131368005-articleimg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">And mind you, he did not spare any bowler. Even Axar Patel, who perhaps had the best T20I series of his career, was smashed for seven boundaries &ndash; the most he scored against any bowler. Not to forget, he was able to whack a bowler of Jasprit Bumrah&rsquo;s caliber for a couple of big ones without much fuss.&nbsp;<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664131418370-articleimg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Green&rsquo;s potential was well known ever since he picked up a five-wicket haul on his first-class debut. But due to his height, which is excess of 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, he suffered a few stress fractures on his back that prohibited him from bowling. But that was no problem for Green, who was equally capable of delivering with the bat.&nbsp;He earned a maiden call-up at the back of a magnificent 197 against New South Wales, his then-best first-class score and would go on to better it against Queensland in March 2021- finishing as the leading run-getter with 922 runs at 76.83. In between that, he had made his Test and ODI debuts and has now is slowly beginning to feel at home in both the formats, but is starting to show glimpses of his capabilities in the shortest format as well.&nbsp;At 21, he has already played match-winning knocks and bowled match-winning spells in his limited opportunities in international cricket. With the right guidance and allowing him to manage his workload, Green could a central figure for Australia across formats for the next decade.For now, he has taken everything that&rsquo;s thrown at him in his stride and is passing with flying colours.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The all-rounder finished as the highest run-getter in the T20I series against India with 118 runs at a staggering strike-rate of 214.54

Cameron Green further adds to Australia’s frightening depth

Thanks to Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli, India toppled Australia in the third and final T20I to seal the series 2-1 in Hyderabad on Sunday (September 25), but the team management would be slightly worried about the way returning seamers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel performed in the series. The former picked up only one wicket in two games and leaked runs at 12.16, while Harshal too got just one wicket in three matches and conceded runs at 12.37.&ldquo;Margin of error in T20s is small. We took our chances, we were brave as well. Sometimes it doesn&#39;t come off. There are areas to improve as well. Not easy coming back after a break against a tough team. They (Bumrah and Harshal) will take some time. Hopefully they can get back into their groove in the next series (against South Africa),&rdquo; said Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.Suryakumar, who was named player of the match, put on a 104-run partnership with Kohli after India lost their KL Rahul and Rohit inside four overs. Suryakumar (36-ball 69) was at his brutal best, while Kohli played the second fiddle to perfection. The latter crafted 63 off 48 deliveries and took the attack to Australia&#39;s frontline spinner Adam Zampa. Suryakumar perished in the 14th over but Kohli only left the field after smacking Daniel Sams for a maximum on the first delivery of the final over. That six got the equation down to five off five and that&#39;s when Hardik Pandya finished the job with a boundary.&quot;That&#39;s why I&#39;m batting at 3, I have to utilise my experience and give the team what the team wants. I got off to a good start then I had to take down Zampa because he&#39;s an important bowler through the middle. I kind of made up my mind to go after him today. He&#39;s a quality bowler and he tries to control my scoring rate whenever we play and I knew that he was going to attack the stumps, so I was standing outside leg already. Last game I was a bit disappointed that after hitting him for a four, I went for a double rather than hitting him for a six.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m making a conscious effort to strike those big ones through the middle overs so that it can help the team situation. The game shouldn&#39;t have gone on that long, we should have probably had 4 or 5 to chase in the final over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary (on that first-ball six in the 20th over). I&#39;m happy with my contribution to the team, I took a break, went back to the nets, worked hard on my fitness and think it&#39;s coming off well. I want to keep contributing and doing my best for the team.&quot;Talking about Suryakumar, Kohli said: &quot;When Surya started hitting it like that, I kinda looked at the dug-out as well. Rohit and Rahul bhai both told me, &#39;you can just keep batting on&#39; because Surya was striking it that well. It was just about building a partnership. I just used my experience a little bit. SKY has absolute clarity in what he wants to do. He has the game to bat under any sort of situation and any condition. He has shown that already. He got a hundred in England, he batted beautifully in the Asia Cup. Here, he&#39;s striking the ball as well as I have seen him strike. For the past 6 months, he&#39;s been outstanding. It&#39;s the array of shots and to play those shots at the right time is such a tremendous skill. He&#39;s a guy who knows his game inside out. He&#39;s got the gift of timing and I was in awe watching him play his shots.&quot;&nbsp;Cameron Green is not part of Australia&#39;s T20 World Cup squad but the all-rounder made quite an impression in this series. Opening for the first time in his career, the big man emerged as the highest run-getter of the series, slamming 118 runs at an average of 39.33 and a strike rate of 214.55. In the third T20I, Green smashed 52 off 21 deliveries and propelled Australia to 62 by the end of five overs. Once he perished, the visitors slowed down and scored 66 in the middle overs (7-15).&quot;Really happy with a young player like Green having such an impact. We had to get wickets, can&#39;t beat India by containing. At times we were sloppy with bat and ball, but playing a tight series like this against a World Class side is going to keep the guys in good stead. I loved the way he took the game on with his ultra-aggressive approach,&quot; said Australian skipper Aaron Finch.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma is hopeful that Harshal and Bumrah will return back to their best in the next series

Aaron Finch

SKY's got the gift of timing, I was in awe watching him play: Kohli

LIVE: India vs Australia, 3rd T20I, Hyderabad 

As it happened: Ice-cold Hardik Pandya seals series win for India

After two well-contested matches, India and Australia battle it out in the third T20 International (T20I) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday (September 25). A win in this game will give Australia back-to-back T20I series wins in India.&nbsp;India and Australia have played each other on 25 occasions in T20Is with India winning 14 of them while Australia have won 10.Ground detailsThe Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has not seen any T20 action since 2019. The last match in the format was a T20I between India and West Indies, which saw the hosts chase 208 quite easily.&nbsp;Based on the nine T20s played in 2019, the pacers are sure to have a field day as they have picked up 61% of the wickets. They have done so at an economy rate of 8.5, striking once every 19.8 deliveries, 28.1 runs apart.&nbsp;The spinners, on the other hand, have been a tad economical, conceding at 8.1 runs per over, but lag behind in the runs (30.1) balls (22.3) per wicket ratio.Since it is not clear how the pitch will behave three years on, ensure you maintain balance between pacers and spinners. Focussing on all-rounders could prove to be fruitful.Suggested team<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664031394965-articleimg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your team from Cricket.com&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.cricket.com/fantasy-research-center/214861/ind-vs-aus-3rd-t20i-australia-tour-of-india-2022" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fantasy Research Centre</a>. You can use this tool to build your team with the help of algorithms. Then, based on your preferences, the platform will guide you through creating the ideal fantasy XI.Captaincy suggestionsFor small leagues: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Axar Patel (vc)For grand leagues: Rohit Sharma (c), Matthew Wade (vc)Stats that matterIndia have scored at a run-rate of 9.3, which is the best among all teams after New Zealand who have scored at 9.6 this year. Among Test playing nations, they have the best&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/11803/suryakumar-yadav/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Suryakumar Yadav</a> may have been dismissed for a duck in the second T20O at Nagpur, but there&rsquo;s little doubt that he is the most in-form Indian batter at the moment. He has scored 613 runs at a strike-rate of 182 in 19 innings. In fact, only Nepal&rsquo;s Dipendra Singh Airee (626) has scored more runs than Surya this year. He occupies the crucial No. 4 spot, which he has become accustomed to since he made his debut last year.&nbsp;With five wickets in two matches, <a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/62576/axar-patel/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Axar Patel</a> has been<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/3852/rohit-sharma/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Rohit Sharma</a>&rsquo;s go-to bowler in the series and could once again be a pivotal figure for India in this match. His wickets this series have come at an average of six, strike-rate of 7.2 and has conceded at just five an over, which is incredible given that both games have been high-scoring affairs.Grand League PuntsWith Rohit Sharma, you often do not know what you&rsquo;re going to get. He tends to go after the bowling right from the beginning, which could be risky, but then if it pays off, you are in for a treat &ndash; not just from the match point of view, but also from a fantasy point of view. With 480 runs at a strike-rate of 148.2, he is India&rsquo;s second highest run-getter in T20Is this year.<a href="https://www.cricket.com/players/4195/matthew-wade/career-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Matthew Wade</a> has scored 358 runs at 59.66 to go with a strike-rate of 165.33 against India. All his three T20I fifties have come against them. He has been unbeaten in both the matches so far and has scored 88 runs at a strike-rate of close215 in the process. Australia will back him to fire once again.&nbsp;Here are the Top 10 Criclytics Projections:<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1664031579986-articleimg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">India probable XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra ChahalAustralia probable XI: Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Daniel Sams/Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott/Nathan Ellis, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh HazlewoodPowered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Here are a few tips that could help you create your fantasy XI for the third T20I between India and Australia

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