BBL gives Aussies edge over India

The extended KFC Big Bash League season has drawn criticism from players and pundits but the longer schedule looks set to give Australia an edge in the upcoming T20 series in India.

Nine of Australia's 15-player squad for the two-match T20 leg of the Qantas Tour of India played at least 11 BBL|08 games, with six players featuring in the dramatic all-Melbourne final.

That recent T20 form gives wicketkeeper and vice-captain Alex Carey confidence Australia can match it with India in India, where they have won just one of five previous T20 internationals.

"The guys have had their Big Bash campaign just finished and they're in T20 mode so we'll hit the two T20s and then get stuck into the five one-dayers," Carey said in Hyderabad on Friday.

"The confidence is up for all the players and we're really excited now to get playing, get stuck into the Indians. "

Top-order dynamo and BBL|08 Player of the Tournament D'Arcy Short played 15 BBL games this season, followed by competition leading wicket-taker Kane Richardson and Perth Scorchers batsman Ashton Turner on 14.

Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa and Nathan Coulter-Nile each featured in 13 matches, while Carey played in a dozen games and left-armer Jason Behrendorff 11.

Every player in the touring squad played at least one BBL game, and for all but Jhye Richardson, it was their most recent competitive match.

India have T20 form in their system too, but not to the extent of many of the Australians.

Under stand-in captain Rohit Sharma, India played three T20 internationals earlier this month in New Zealand, where the Black Caps prevailed 2-1, but India were without supreme batsman Virat Kohli who missed the series.

While much of the short-form focus is on the 50-over format this year with the 2019 World Cup in the UK less than six months away, Carey says Australia will be treating the two T20s – in Visakhapatnam and Bangalore – very seriously with an eye to the T20 World Cup on home soil in late 2020.

"I think the guys coming off the Big Bash have played a lot of T20 cricket and I think we'll treat these as some pretty big games of T20 cricket leading into the World Cup next year in Australia," Carey said.

"Any opportunity we get to play T20 it's T20 mode, which hopefully will start off our tour really well.

"(It's) some exciting cricket, go out there and play fearless and have some freedom and get stuck in to these guys."

The Australians have spent the past five days in Hyderabad practicing their skills and being put through the paces in a series of gruelling fielding drills that reduced several exhausted squad members to their haunches.

Finch's side has an optional training session on Saturday before the series opener begins on Sunday night local time (Monday morning AEDT).

BBL|08 games per squad member: Short 15, K Richardson 14, Turner 14, Stoinis 13, Maxwell 13, Coulter-Nile 13, Zampa 13, Carey 12, Behrendorff 11, Handscomb 9, Finch 8, J Richardson 5, Lyon 2, Khawaja 1, Cummins 1

Qantas tour of India

First T20: February 24, Visakhapatnam

Second T20: February 27, Bengaluru

First ODI: March 2, Hyderabad

Second ODI: March 5, Nagpur

Third ODI: March 8, Ranchi

Fourth ODI: March 10, Mohali

Fifth ODI: March 13, Delhi