Australia’s T20 openers won’t be wasting any time in the BKT Tyres T20 series against India with a new approach that encourages aggression from the first ball of the innings.
With a batting lineup that features power hitters throughout, captain Mitch Marsh and Travis Head say they won’t be “chewing up balls” inside the first six overs.
Australia’s attacking intent inside the Powerplay, when the fielding restrictions allow only two fielders outside the inner circle, has been obvious in their past three series against West Indies, South Africa and then New Zealand.
The Aussies have averaged 61 runs at the end of the six overs, or a strike rate of 169.97, the highest it’s ever been in a single calendar year.
That scoring rate increase has greatly outshone the international average (which is also trending upwards) and Head confirmed it’s the depth of the batting line up that allows him such freedom at the top.
“When you’ve got the power that we’ve got behind us, we’ve got to get a move on,” Head told cricket.com.au.
“You don’t want to be chewing up balls up at the start when you’ve got (Tim) David, (Marcus) Stoinis, (Josh) Inglis, (Cameron) Green and (Glenn) Maxwell behind you.
“It’s huge power.
Gone are the days of the ‘anchor’ batter in this Australian XI. David’s T20I strike rate this year is a career-best 202.64, Inglis’ is 204.76.
Green’s is 168.62 while Mitch Owen, who has only been on the international stage for a matter of months, is striking at 161.95.
And Head believes there’s no ceiling for his side.
“We can score anything if we can get going,” Head said.
“So, for Mitch (Marsh) and I (the plan is to) try and go out there and take advantage of it (Powerplay fielding restrictions).
“It’s been a strength of ours for a couple of years, that if you look at both one-day cricket and T20 cricket we’ve put a big emphasis on the Powerplay.
“We try not to be reckless, but at some stage it will look like that … but yeah, the plan is to try and get as many as possible.”
Maxwell, whose strike rate this year (174.22) is also well up on his career rate (156.00), doesn’t see the approach as one-dimensional however, and believes it’s setting Australia up for success at next year’s T20 World Cup, to be held in India and Sri Lanka from February.
Whether it be hitting the first ball of the match for six, as Marsh did against South Africa in Darwin, or turning down singles inside the first 10 overs, as both Maxwell and David have done this year, the 37-year-old allrounder wants the batting lineup to continue to back their own ability.
“We’ve got confidence in all our players to go out there and play it how they see it,” Maxwell told cricket.com.au.
“We’ve tried to be ultra-aggressive, knowing that we’ve got the power throughout our lineup to take down any attack that’s thrown at us. And if we keep throwing punches, hopefully a couple of them land and we’re able to do some damage to the opposition.
“We feel like we’ve got the right balance of power hitting and guys that can manoeuvre the field.
“Obviously spin’s going to probably play a part in the next T20 World Cup, and the way all our batters are playing both types of bowling is really impressive.”
Australia’s five-match T20I series against India begins in Canberra on October 29.
Australia v India T20Is 2025
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott (games 1-3), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman (games 3-5), Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis (games 4-5), Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (games 1-2), Glenn Maxwell (games 3-5), Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (wk), Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar
October 29: First T20I v India, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT
October 31: Second T20I v India, MCG, Melbourne, 7:15pm AEDT
November 2: Third T20I v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 7:15pm AEDT
November 6: Fourth T20I v India, Gold Coast Stadium, Gold Coast, 7:15pm AEDT
November 8: Fifth T20I v India, The Gabba, Brisbane, 7:15pm AEDT
