India vs Australia: MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav sweat it out in nets ahead of 1st T20I against Aussies

Dhoni, Kohli sweat it out ahead of 1st T20I (Photo Credit: BCCI/Twitter) 

The Indian cricket team on Friday started the preparations for the impending limited-overs home series against Australia, where they will host the Aussies for two T20Is and five ODIs. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday took to micro-blogging platform Twitter to share the photographs of the Indian team sweating it out in the nets ahead of their first T20I match against the visitors scheduled to be played on Sunday. In the photographs, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Umesh Yadav are spotted doing their rounds of practice ahead of the series opener.

The home series against Australia will be the final preparatory stop ahead of the World Cup 2019 and the Men in Blue will be eyeing to lock the final 15 players for the cricketing extravaganza. Earlier, when India toured Australia, the Men in Blue sealed a historic double against the Aussies as they defeated them in the Test and ODI series after drawing the three-match T20I series 1-1 following the washed out series decider.

Here are the photographs:

India have already lost all-rounder Hardik Pandya due to a back injury and Ravindra Jadeja has been called in as the replacement for the flamboyant all-rounder.

Interestingly, Dinesh Karthik has not been called up for the ODI squad against Australia and many top former cricketers have reckoned that his World Cup dream might be over and Rishabh Pant would get the nod for the mega event.

Meanwhile, Australia would be eyeing to make the most out of their away series against India as they look to get their best 15 ready for the World Cup, which starts from May 30.

Indian squad for T20Is: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Markande   

Australian squad for T20Is: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, D Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa