India will play three T20 Internationals, four Tests and three ODIs during their Australia tour.
The Indian cricket team left on Friday for the gruelling tour of Australia, where the Virat Kohli-led side will play three T20Is, four Tests and three ODIs, starting from November 21. India last toured Australia in 2015-16, having lost the five-match ODI series 1-4 and won the three-match T20I series 3-0. India’s celebrated clean sweep win against the Aussies had come under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. With no Dhoni in Team India this time, it will be interesting to see how Kohli manages the men-in-blue. However, there isn’t any stress visible on the faces of the Indian players. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared some pictures of those “happy faces”. “Happy faces and gamer boys before the team’s departure to Australia #TeamIndia,” the BCCI captioned the images on Twitter.
Happy faces and gamer boys before the team's departure to Australia #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eZCgdrABCE
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 16, 2018
Along with the happy faces of Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan and Jasprit Bumrah, some of the players were seen busy playing a video game.
India vice-captain Rohit, who recently led India to a clean sweep victory against the West Indies at home, shared a picture with his bowlers Yuzvendra Chahal and Khaleel Ahmed. “Gangs here and we are ready to jet,” he wrote on Twitter.
Gangs here and we are ready to jet ✈️ pic.twitter.com/CsCqm79Kl0
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) November 16, 2018
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav expressed his “excitement” for the lengthy tour, saying: “Exciting challenges ahead. Off to Australia with the boys.”
Exciting challenges ahead. Off to Australia✈️with the boys #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ZQtaGs1ERE
— Kuldeep yadav (@imkuldeep18) November 16, 2018
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Krunal Pandya, who made his international debut in the recently-concluded series against the West Indies, also joined in.
Off we go! ✈#Australia ??#Travelbound pic.twitter.com/q8AQwx1kte
— Jasprit bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) November 16, 2018
✈ Taking off to head down under ?? pic.twitter.com/Z5ZuKmcIBZ
— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) November 16, 2018
The first T20I will be played at The Gabba, Brisbane, on November 1. Captain Kohli, at the pre-departure conference on Thursday, asked for an improved batting show from his batsmen.
“Our focus will be more on how batsmen will bat together on this tour. The bowlers are in a great space. After a long time, we have a bowling attack where we feel that we can pick up twenty wickets every time,” Kohli said.
“We definitely have made decent progress but there is still a lot of room for improvement,” he added.
