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Published: Sept 19, 2022

Source: WION

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India have an edge over T20 World Champions Australia thanks to Virat Kohli

India are set to face Australia in a three-match T20I series starting on September 20 in Mohali. The series, designed to be a preparatory campaign ahead of the T20 World Cup would be crucial for both the teams.

For World Champions Australia, it would be about showing faith in their combination that won them the T20 World Cup back in 2021 in the United Arab Emirates. And for India, it would be about playing their entire team, for once, just for once, without getting plagued by injuries or infections that isolate you from the world for 14 days.
 

India might have been knocked out from the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup in the group stage, but if history is anything to go by, the Men in Blue hold a stellar record against the world champions of 2022.
 

In the 23 matches that India have played against Australia, the team has won 13 encounters and lost 9. The Indian side at a point of time dominated the Aussie counterpart, and had a record of 8-1 between the years 2013 and 2017.
 

The records suggest that the competition has been much closer in recent times after Aaron Finch took over the side.
 

Since 2018, India and Australia have squared up against each other in 8 matches and the results have been much closer. Australia have inched forward in the recent years by 4-3 margin, with one game bearing no result.
 

Since we are looking at recent history and fresh results, it is also important to remember that in the last series that was played between the sides, India won the 3-match tie, two games to one Down Under in 2020.
 

Keeping that in mind, we move onto the fixtures in hand. Rohit Sharma’s team would be thanking their stars that Virat Kohli has returned to form with a tremendous performance in the Asia Cup, and why not? The talismanic run-scorer has been a box office hit in the India vs Australia encounters and largely is the main reason for the riveting rivalry that we have come to enjoy in the recent years. The former captain is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to scoring against Australia and has a mammoth 718 runs from 19 matches that he has played.