India vs Australia, 1st T20I: Five Key Player Battles To Watch Out For

India will lock horns with Australia in the first fixture of the five-match Australia tour of India 2023 T20I series on November 23. The clash will take place at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM IST. As far as their recent results in T20Is are concerned, India achieved a historic feat by claiming their first-ever gold medal in cricket at the Asian Games 2023 held in China earlier this year. Meanwhile, Australia thumped South Africa 3-0 in their last T20I assignment in August-September 2023.

Mitchell Marsh bagged the Player of the Series award, scoring 186 runs with the help of two half-centuries.

Talking about head-to-head match-ups in T20Is, India and Australia have met on 26 occasions. While India won 15 times, Australia emerged triumphant in 10 instances. One clash concluded with no result.

Top five key battles from India vs Australia, 1st T20I match:

Matthew Wade vs Arshdeep Singh

Australia captain Matthew Wade will be taking the field for the first time in more than a year. The southpaw, known to provide aggressive starts, has amassed 1,018 runs in 75 T20Is at an average of 24.82 and a strike rate of 132.03.

He will be up against India's left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who is known to generate in-swing during the powerplay phase, something which may trouble Wade. With a record of 54 wickets in 36 T20Is, this will be an interesting battle to watch out for.

Glenn Maxwell vs Axar Patel

Glenn Maxwell is coming on the back of a superb ODI World Cup campaign, where his all-round contribution of 400 runs and six wickets helped Australia clinch a record-extending sixth title. He also played a blinder of a knock against Afghanistan where his 201* off