1st T20I: India aim to find ideal combination in aftermath of Jadeja's injury as they take on champs Australia

Team India will play six T20I matches before the T20 World Cup in Australia and their main aim would be to zero down on their best XI. The Men in Blue will face first Australia and then South Africa in three T20Is each, as they look to put the disappointment of their early Asia Cup exit behind and finalise their preparations for the showpiece event.

While it could be said that there weren't too many things that went wrong for the Men in Blue in the continental tournament but what did go wrong cost them the games in a format that survives on margins. India's biggest issue, that they would want to find a solution for in these six games would be all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's ideal replacement.

Jadeja's sudden knee injury threw spanner in the works for the Indian team as it hurt the combination they wanted to play in the first place in more ways than one. No Jadeja meant that India didn't have a single left-hander in the side resulting in Rishabh Pant replacing Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI. No Jadeja meant India had to get in Deepak Hooda as the spin all-rounder but they didn't have enough faith in his bowling skills to sneak even his one over in the matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India replaced Jadeja with Axar Patel in the squad but didn't believe in his abilities to do the job at No. 7 for the team. Solving the Axar-Hooda confusion will be one of the biggest agendas of the Rohit Sharma-led side against Australia.

India won't have Arshdeep Singh for the series but they will welcome back Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel into the team which will ultimately strengthen the bowling attack.

On the other hand, for Australia it will be an opportunity for skipper Aaron Finch to come back into form after giving up ODIs. The Men in Yellow are waiting to unleash Tim David onto the biggest stage as in the absence of Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis in the series, the Singapore-born batter will be key in Australia batting well in the death overs.

India likely playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin/Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia likely playing XI: Aaron Finch, Josh Inglis, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green/Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood