All-time India-Australia combined T20I XI

In a format that was supposed to be Australia’s strong-point, no one has been able to explain why the team from Down Under has failed to live up to expectations, with a lot of players, either being under-achievers or total failures in due course of time. However, with India, there is a clear case of unearthing talent from every nook and cranny of the country thanks to the introduction of the IPL and so it is hardly surprising that our India-Australia All-time combined T20I XI is dominated by the players from the Asian team. 

Virat Kohli: He has underperformed in the position, but how can you challenge him? Batting in the most succulent manner possible, the way the Indian skipper had batted in the 2016 World T20 game against Australia left people finding new adjectives to praise him and made him the world’s best all-format batsman. He doesn’t abide by the quintessential T20 ball-bashing methodology but his meticulous planning and sheer accuracy of calculation have given him a box-office appeal that no other Indian or Australian can match up to. 

Shane Watson: In the context of this selection, no one - I repeat, no one - comes close to challenging the sport’s one of the vexing figures. Shane Watson has always been disturbed by the common perception, and the regular occurrence of stress fractures, hamstring strains, calf problems, hip complaints, and dislocated shoulders forced him to short cut his red ball career, but that helped him gain a cult status as a T20 batsman. His ability to strike clean against the pacers and spinners alike brought a different meaning to the middle-over batting in T20 cricket. His exploits in the 2012 World Cup was very hard to ignore and despite Yuvraj playing some good knocks for India from that position, Watson will be much ahead in the pecking order.

MS Dhoni: From leading the team to the inaugural World T20 title to bringing them close on two more occasions, T20 format loved MS Dhoni the captain too much. However, only in a Utopian world will a man walk in with only bouquets sans the bricks, and in reality, it is always different. A format that was designed for his brand of cricket, Dhoni’s T20 career never took off, but in the world of mediocre wicket-keepers at the international level, Dhoni commanded a different level of respect. A batting average of close to 38, Dhoni’s biggest contribution to this team is the amount of level-headedness he brings to the table and how good he has been behind the stumps.

Yuzvendra Chahal: Yes, you read it right. I am picking him ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. In a couple of years that Chahal has operated at the highest level, one thing is clear from his bowling that he is fearless, the first attribute one must have to be a T20 cricketer. His bowling average of 19.93 is the best for an Indian bowler and that speaks volume about Chahal’s importance to the squad. With his mixed up leg-spin, Chahal made sure that picking wickets are the primary job of a spinner, which has so refreshing to see from an Indian.

Kuldeep Yadav: Again the same logic goes for Kuldeep. IPL might have provided us Ravichandran Ashwin, but if one player epitomizes the attacking instinct of a spinner, then it has to be the left-arm wrist-spinner. Coming through the ranks in the IPL, Kuldeep ushered in a new era of spin bowling that has hardly been the norm by any other spinner in both the countries. Adam Zampa, for all the promise, has never come close to what Kuldeep has achieved in his short international career so far. Bringing him into the team adds more balance and give Chahal a chance to operate with his favourite partner. 

Mitchell Johnson: For everyone, who is thinking we have the team largely skewed in favour of the Indian team, here is Mitchell Johnson. Australia might have underperformed in the format, largely due to their bowler’s failure to adapt to the shortest version of the game, but Johnson has been a standout performer for the country. With 38 wickets from 30 matches at an average of a shade over 20, Johnson has a clear case of being the best pacer in the country, although James Faulkner has a better average and picked up more wickets. His bowling in the powerplay and the death overs was bound to concede more runs than any bowler who was bowling through the middle overs.