India vs Australia 5th T20I: Washington for Axar, Ellis for Green and other changes both teams could make

With the series already sealed, Suryakumar Yadav-led India take on Australia in the fifth and final T20I at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. India sealed the series with a 20-run win in Raipur, and while the fifth T20I is just a mere formality with Australia playing for pride, it will provide an opportunity for both teams to experiment with their squads. More so, with this series acting as a buildup ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA.

So what changes could the teams make?

Australia did overhaul their squad ahead of the third T20I, and in the previous match, several fresh faces, including Ben McDermott, Ben Dwarshuis, Josh Philippe and debutant Chris Green featured for the visitors.

This was as a result of six of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad members, including Steve Smith, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis flying back home midway ahead of a busy Australian summer. The only World Cup winning member who stayed back in India was Travis Head.

It, therefore, does not seem like Australia would make many changes for the final match of the series, although either spinners Chris Green or Tanveer Sangha could make way for Nathan Ellis or Kane Richardson.

India, too, made a few changes ahead of the fourth T20I. It was announced before the series that Shreyas Iyer, who was part of India’s ODI World Cup squad, would join the squad for the fourth T20I and take over vice-captaincy duties from Ruturaj Gaikwad. Deepak Chahar was also a late inclusion to the squad after being named replacement for Mukesh Kumar before the third match in Guwahati.

Chahar, however, played only the fourth match and finished with figures of 2/44.

As far as possible changes to the playing XI is concerned, Washington Sundar could come in for Axar Patel as a like-for like all-rounder replacement, whereas Tilak Varma, after sitting out the Raipur game, could return for this match.

The rest of India’s batting lineup looks sorted with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad firing, whereas Rinku Singh continues to do Rinku Singh things, by providing crucial finishing touches.

India’s pace trio for the third T20I consisted of Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan, and are unlikely to make any changes to that fast bowling attack.