Team India's predicted XIs to play T20I and Test warm-up at the same time on Australia tour

2. Shikhar Dhawan – T20I, Mayank Agarwal – Test practice match

Back in February this year, an untimely shoulder injury had disallowed Shikhar from participating in the national team’s latest LOI assignment against New Zealand. Nine months later, however, ‘Gabbar’ finds himself back in both the ODI and T20I sides, thanks to a record-breaking IPL campaign.

With 471-runs to his name, Dhawan has been at the heart of the Capitals’ dominance at the top of the points table. The Indian think-tank would be wise to put his purple patch to good use against the Aussies in the T20 series.

But Dhawan’s inclusion comes at the expense of Mayank Agarwal, yet another opener who has looked in sublime touch at the Emirates. Mayank, batting alongside his Karnataka teammate Rahul, features fifth on the run-getters’ list with 398-runs. Presently, a right-knee injury has kept him out on the side-lines.

So the Indian team would be careful in managing his workload and might prefer not risking him for the T20Is. Instead, an opportunity to open in the warm-up match would give him some pre-match practice before the Border-Gavaskar series.