Australia vs India: Second T20 international – team news, start, lineups
Who: Australia vs India
What: Second T20 international of five-game series
Where: Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia
When: Friday, October 31, at 7:15pm (08:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 5:45 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Australia and India will try again on Friday in the second T20 international of their five-match series after the first match was rained off on Wednesday.
What is India’s form ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup?
India go one better than Australia, with a nine-series unbeaten run in bilateral T20 matches.
The Indians have won their last six in a row.
How did India win the last T20 World Cup and where is the 2026 edition?
India beat South Africa by seven runs in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which was staged in the United States and the Caribbean.
The Indians eliminated Australia, in the last T20 meeting between the sides prior to this season, on their way to lifting the trophy. Mitch Marsh’s side were dumped out at the Super Sixes stage by India’s 24-run win against them in Saint Lucia.
The 2026 stage will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8, with the final being played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Stat attack – Australia vs India
Prior to this series, India had won seven of the last eight T20 matches against Australia – including the last three games.
Australia’s home form does not make for pretty reading either, having never won a series consisting of more than one match on their own soil against India.
India have also won the last three bi-lateral T20 series against Australia, home and away.
Is Melbourne the biggest cricket stadium in the world?
The MCG clocks in at a staggering 90,000 capacity but it is not the biggest in world cricket. That title goes to India’s Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which holds 132,000. By comparison, Lord’s Cricket Ground in United Kingdom, regarded as the most famous cricket venue in the world, holds 31,100.
Are tickets still available for the second T20 between Australia and India?
The second match of the series has been a complete sellout for some time. Limited tickets are available for the final three games of the series in Hobart, the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Are Australia and India competing with Oasis in Melbourne?
Brit-pop band Oasis are performing in Australia for the first time in two decades at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Friday night, which makes the sellout at the MCG even more remarkable. It is, however, widely expected that the sea of blue supporting India will far outweigh the home following in green and yellow.
What have Australia said ahead of the second game with India?
Despite having played nearly 100 internationals between them, Tim David and Nathan Ellis are both in line to make their first appearances at the famous MGC on Friday,
