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Australia out to buck recent T20 trend

Focus shifts to the shortest format of the game in Mumbai as Australia look to refine their game ahead of this year's World T20

Australia are setting aside their recent disappointing record in the shortest format and focusing on carrying their outstanding ODI form into the T20 tri-series portion of the Commonwealth Bank Tour of India, allrounder Jess Jonassen says.

Australia haven’t won a bilateral T20I series of more than one match since August 2015, when they defeated Ireland 3-0. Since then, they’ve lost series to England (home and away), New Zealand (home and away) and India (home) with the scoreline reading 2-1 on each occasion.

They made the final of the World T20 in April 2016, but lost the final to a rampant West Indies outfit.

With the next World T20 looming in the Caribbean this November – and another on home soil 14 months later – this tri-series presents a crucial opportunity for Meg Lanning’s team to buck their recent record and refine their game plans for a bid at winning back the title they lost two years ago.

They couldn’t ask for a much better test than India on home soil and an in-form England outfit.

Match Wrap: Healy ton powers India series clean sweep

With a comprehensive 3-0 one-day series win over India already under their belts, Jonassen is confident the squad is well positioned to carry over their good form.

“We’ve got a lot of girls in form, everyone is in form at the moment and we’ve got a couple of girls coming over to join us as well,” Jonassen said on Monday as the Australian players flew back to Mumbai from Vadodara.

“As much as it’s been disappointing, our T20 form in the past, I think we’re a different group now and if we can continue to improve off the back of the 50-over games then the results in the T20 format will take care of itself.”

India have been bolstered by the return of pace great Jhulan Goswami for the tri-series and will draw some confidence from the swashbuckling touch of top-order batters Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues in Sunday’s final ODI, while England have named three uncapped players in their side as stars Katherine Brunt (injured) and Sarah Taylor (rested) sit out the series.

“We were definitely on the defense in the last two ODIs with how (India’s top-order batters) have come out, they’re an exciting team,” Jonassen said.

“We’re going to have to come up with some different plans for some of their players and try and combat that as much as we can, equally the English have come over here as well and all three teams have some destructive players so for us it’s about minimising the impact they can have on us.

“England are not a team to be taken lightly and they still have some highly capable players.

“But for us, it’s not about necessarily focusing on other teams but on us and how we want to go about our cricket.”

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Australia also welcome two new faces for the tri-series, with ODI squad members Nicole Bolton and Belinda Vakarewa returning home, replaced by exciting batter Naomi Stalenberg and experienced allrounder Delissa Kimmince.

“They’re such exciting players,” Jonassen said of Stalenberg and Kimmince.

“Dee is a bit of a veteran now, she’s been in and around the group a number of time and she just provides consistency in performances and has good all-round capabilities as well.

“Naomi being another young one coming into the group, she brings that energy and bubble.

“During long tours and tours to India, at various times you need that injection of positivity and energy.

“So I think they’re going to bring a lot to this group and hopefully they can come out and perform if given an opportunity.”

And if Australia needed any extra incentive for this series, Australia’s precarious hold on the ICC No.1 team ranking (which combines all formats) means they’ll need to out-perform England in the tri-series to maintain the mantle as the world’s best.

“The world number one ranking is something we recently got back and throughout this T20 series there will be that in the backs of our minds as well,” Jonassen said.

“The way we’ve gone about our cricket on this tour so far has been really exciting and hopefully we can transfer that into the T20 format as well.”

The opening match of the tri-series against Australia and India will be played on Thursday at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium – the venue for all seven matches.

Cricket.com.au will provide news, scores, highlights and behind-the-scenes coverage from on the ground in India, while Fox Sports will broadcast the T20I tri-series live. 

Commonwealth Bank Tour of India

Australia T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rumeli Dhar, Mona Meshram.

England T20I squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by 321 runs. Report

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by seven wickets. Report

ODI series

First ODI Australia won by eight wickets. Scorecard

Second ODI Australia won by 60 runs. Scorecard

Third ODI Australia won by 97 runs. Scorecard

T20I tri-series

First T20I Australia v India, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 22. Live Coverage

Second T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 23. Live Coverage

Third T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 25. Live Coverage

Fourth T20I Australia v India, Brabourne Stadium, March 26. Live Coverage

Fifth T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 28. Live Coverage

Sixth T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 29. Live Coverage

Final Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 31. Live Coverage