T20 World Cup Match Prediction: India versus Australia Warm-Up. Who Will Win?

The ICC T20 World Cup started only a few days ago, but the competition has already given us some great games. Scotland's surprise win against Bangladesh put the cat among the pigeons, while the warm-up games have been pretty entertaining too. India played a warm-up against England on Monday and won it. They now have one final warm-up match against Australia, who also won their first warm-up match against New Zealand.

Who will win this match? Carry on reading this T20 World Cup prediction to find out.

India Team Preview

Thanks to the experience that their players got during this year's Indian Premier League, India are the favourites to go and win their second T20 international title. They got off to a great start against England on Monday, but this game did highlight some vulnerabilities that they have.

Chasing a pretty big total, the Indian batsmen were aggressive from the start and Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul both scored quickly. With contributions from others down the order, India got home with an over to spare. However, India have a problem in the shape of Virat Kohli, which is not something that is said often in the cricketing world. His form has been under scrutiny as of late, and he seems to be struggling against spin more than usual. He will not be dropped, but India will be hoping he can find some form in this final warm up match.

When it comes to bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked a bit vulnerable and conceded a number of runs at the death. There is a chance that we see Shardul Thakur in this match, with Jasprit Bumrah given a rest. On the other hand, Mohammed Shami looked back to his best, which will please the Indian management.

India do have some issues that they need to solve, but none of them are huge, and there is so much talent in the squad that they can carry a couple of poor performers.

Australia Team Preview

The Aussies just managed to edge past New Zealand in their first warm-up game, and they will now look to take this momentum into their final warm-up game. This was a welcomed win for Australia as they came to the UAE on the back of a pretty embarrassing 3-0 T20 series defeat to Bangladesh.

Australia started with most of their full-strength team against the Kiwis, minus Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell. We are pretty sure that both will play in this game as they are going to be fundamental to Australia's hopes of lifting the T20 World Cup.

Against the Kiwis, the likes of Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, and Marcus Stoinis scored some runs, but the team would have been disappointed at the fact that none of the top five scored big. Another issue for them will be the lack of form for David Warner, who has been out of touch for well over a year now. They will be hoping that he can use this final warm-up game to kick himself into gear.

Although there were a couple of holes in their bowling attack against New Zealand, they should not be too worried, especially since Cummins is still to come back. Also, Maxwell is a pretty good bowler that can cause opposition batsmen plenty of issues.

Australia are not the force that they once were, but they do still have a lot of talent in their side and anyone who takes them too lightly will end up paying the prices.

Toss Prediction

This match will be played at the ICC Academy Ground No 2 in Dubai, and there has only ever been five T20 matches played here, so it is not easy to tell whether it is an advantage to bat or bowl first. In the five games that have been played here, the team batting first has won twice, while the team batting second has won three times. We believe that the team that wins the toss will likely opt to field first.

Pitch Conditions

Once again, due to the lack of games that have been played at this venue, it is not easy to predict the pitch conditions. The average first innings score at this stadium is 155, while the average second innings score is 135. To be honest, we are not sure how the average second innings score is lower than the average first innings one when the team batting second has won three times to two. Anyway, we think this will be a pitch where the team batting first will aim for a score of around 160-170.

Our Match Prediction

This is not an important game, but both teams will want to win it as it is always nice to enter a big competition with some momentum. Australia do have plenty of power and are coming into this match off the back of a nice win, while India seems to be more settled, have experience in these conditions, and beat a powerful England side in their previous game. Therefore, we think that India will go on to win this match.

Our match prediction: