Upbeat India gear up for Aussie challenge in T20Is

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Overview:

Australia vs India, 1st T20I
Carrara Oval, Queensland
7 October, 6:40 PM local

Despite coming second best in ODIs and only managing to get a draw in the one-off Test, India have been the more dominant team heading into the T20I series. After ending Australia's 26-match winning streak in ODIs and putting up a solid show in the one-off Pink Ball Test, India will hope they can carry the momentum into the T20Is, the first of which will be played on Thursday, 7 October.

On the other hand, Aussies would be looking get back into the groove in a format that they are very comfortable with. Given that they lead the multi-format series 6-4, Australia will be first looking to wrap up the tour with a win in the first T20I so as to give them room to experiment in the rest of the series.

Remember the last time:

India and Australia last faced each other in this format in the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2020 in Melbourne. An all-round performance helped the home side lift the trophy as they beat India by a massive margin of 85 runs.

Batting first, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney put Australia in a commanding position with an opening-wicket stand of 115 runs. Though India did manage to pull things back towards the back end of the innings, the hosts still put up a huge total of 184.

India faltered in their chase and were effectively five down (with Taniya Bhatia injured) within the Powerplay. Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen picked up four and three wickets respectively as they bundled India out for just 99 runs to become five-time Women's T20 World Champions.

What they said:

Meg Lanning (Australia captain): "Everyone found the last week of the Test a challenge in different ways. It's a format we don't play a lot and have experience in different situations. You have so many unknowns and aren't really sure how to approach situations if you haven't been there before. Now coming into the T20 format it's something we know reasonably well and everyone is pretty clear on what their role is."

Harmanpreet Kaur (India captain): "The momentum we created in the ODIs, it's important, and we want to continue that in the T20Is. We need to win all three to win the series, and we want to go all out. We will go with our best talent because we want to win this series at any cost."

Watch the match live on ICC.tv in select regions.