India tour of Australia 2025 | AUS vs IND: 2nd T20I | Preview and Predictions

After a washout in the series opener, the action shifts to Melbourne, to the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, for the second T20I between Australia and India. The reigning world champions against the second-best team in the world. The stage is set for an absolute belter.

For this game, here we present our preview and predictions.

India tour of Australia 2025 | 2nd T20I | 13:45 IST, October 31

There was little to take away from the opening game, with the match seeing only 9.4 overs before being washed out. Abhishek Sharma couldn’t get going at the top, though Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav looked in great nick before the rain came down.

One thing the game did show was the importance of Hardik Pandya in India’s white-ball setup. With the star all-rounder missing due to injury, India were forced to extend their batting line-up, which meant that Suryakumar Yadav and management had to select Harshit Rana over Arshdeep Singh on account of being handier with the bat, despite the latter being India’s best T20I bowler over the last year. While Singh might feel hard done by, it’s a call that was made with the team in mind. 

The Men in Blue boast an explosive batting unit but lack depth, with two all-rounders in Shivam Dube and Axar Patel coming in at Nos. 6 and 7, respectively. The team will be heavily dependent on the top order, hoping the likes of Sharma, Gill, Yadav, and Tilak Varma manage to do the bulk of the heavy lifting.

In the bowling department, India opted to go with two pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana for the last game, with Shivam Dube being the third seam option. They also have a strong spin trio, comprising Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel, while captain Yadav has further options in Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma as well. 

The hosts, meanwhile, started well, sending the dangerous Sharma back cheaply, but they were unable to contain Gill and Yadav. Hazlewood was tight to begin with and hit the pitch hard to take the ball away from a charging Sharma on multiple occasions, bringing out a possible chink in the youngster’s armour. The Aussies went in with Matthew Kuhnemann as the lone spinner, and it’s likely they’ll take a similar approach on a seamer-friendly MCG strip.

Like India at the moment, Australia don’t bat very deep but have an equally explosive batting line-up. Like his counterpart, captain Mitchell Marsh will expect his top order to take up the bulk of the scoring responsibility.

The MCG has slightly favoured bowlers more than batters in recent years, and we believe this game will prove more of the same. Given the experience and depth of India’s bowling line-up, they are our favourites to win this game.

Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma, Mitchell Marsh (vc), Travis Head, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Varun Chakravarthy, Josh Hazlewood

Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Winners Prediction: India