Whose T20 blueprint will succeed? Tall madcap pack of Aussies or India with one daredevil Abhishek Sharma and a classical Shubman Gill?

On Wednesday evening in chilly Canberra, the Australians will be armed to flaunt a prototype of Ashwin’s prophecy to a wider audience when they take on India, the defending world champions.

In the probable Aussie batting order that will line up at the Manuka Oval, five of the top seven batters stand towering over six feet. A little under 6’0”, Travis Head and Josh Inglis’ pyrotechnics have also been well documented.

The five-match series Down Under will be a cursory indicator of what to expect when the next World Cup rolls around in three months in the Indian subcontinent. It may also turn out to be an antithesis for all high-scoring activities in the build-up.

In the 15 months since the Super 8s exit at the hands of India in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Australia’s rewired batting system has pulverised the charts with a brazen disregard for bowlers, conditions, and phases of the game. India and England have also joined Australia up top in this period as they have in the T20I world rankings.

But here are the interesting facets that have propelled Australia and England into the lead, with India now playing catch-up after a subtle change of guard in the return of Shubman Gill to the top of the batting order, along with the explosive Abhishek Sharma.

• Since July 2024, Australia’s top seven batters possess a collective 164.31 strike rate in 19 T20Is – the highest in the world and about 10 runs higher than India’s 154.80 in 27 games.
• Australia’s top-7 have also hit sixes quicker than England (12.26 balls per six) and India (11.82 bp6), smoking 170 sixes with a maximum every 9.9 deliveries.

Opening factor: How AUS intent trumps India

Firing a warning to India on the eve of the contest that no score will be safe in the series, Australia opener Head vividly embodies the vital spirit of this T20I rekindling – the Powerplays. Interestingly, the 36-ball phase with bounteous field restrictions and two new balls has produced a heavier chunk of team runs than one might expect.

Since July 2024, Australia’s batters have racked up nearly 40 percent (1,119) of all top-7 runs (2790) within the first six overs that cover only 30 percent of a T20 innings. Much of the gung-ho Powerplay relies on the simple but brutal association of Head and captain Mitchell Marsh at the top and their lucid approach to the frenetic environment.

In this period, Head (188 SR) and Marsh (169 SR) have combined for 523 Powerplay runs with devastating effect. With both batters collecting over 80 percent of their runs in boundaries, the Head-Marsh template is nearly hitting the acme of Powerplay batting excellence. Employing a seven-batter-four-bowler template in recent times, these blazing starts from the openers are sufficient for Australia to sustain depth for 20 overs most often, with a cartel of “long-lever” hulks to follow.

“When you’ve got the power that we’ve got behind us, we’ve got to get a move on,” Head told cricket.com.au. “You don’t want to be chewing balls up at the start when you’ve got (Tim) David, (Marcus) Stoinis, (Josh) Inglis, (Cameron) Green and (Glenn) Maxwell behind you. It’s huge power,” he added.

Even better is the right-handed opening salvo of Jos Buttler and Phil Salt of England, scoring with strike rates north of 175 in the Powerplay.

Both Australia and England’s line-ups have grown out of the importance of the first-wicket partnership and rather rely on a band of like-minded individuals pressed on maximising the initial phase. India, though, not as much.

England’s top-order leads in this regard with a 170.59 Powerplay strike rate, nudged closely by Australia’s 169.29. Curiously, India’s combined top-order stands much lower at 156.80 in the 27 matches in the current World Cup cycle.

What may be of concern for India is the diluting effects of the opening and top-order exploits, their overreliance on opener Abhishek Sharma to power the side to world-leading standards. Since his T20I debut, Superman Sharma’s fusillades single-handedly match up to Salt-Buttler and Head-Marsh in Powerplay returns, leading all batters with an otherworldly 193 strike rate for 536 runs.

Credit: Cricket-21