Darlington, McGrath make T20I debuts as Aussies bowl

Australia have named a pair of debutantes in Tahlia McGrath and Hannah Darlington for the opening CommBank T20I against India, with the hosts opting to bowl first at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast.

Darlington, who has taken 35 wickets for Sydney Thunder in her past two WBBL seasons, made her ODI debut last month in Mackay, while Adelaide Strikers allrounder McGrath has been in impressive form with the bat across the ODI and Test legs of this series.

Australia have also been boosted by the return of fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck, who missed the ODIs and Test as she was recovering from an Achilles injury.

In the absence of Rachael Haynes (parental leave), Ashleigh Gardner and Ellyse Perry have both moved up one spot in the order, to four and five respectively, with McGrath listed at six.

Nicola Carey is also back in action, with the Tasmanian allrounder back in the XI after being left out of the Test side.

Indian batter Yastika Bhatia meanwhile has made it a hat-trick of debuts this series, adding a T20I cap to the Test and ODI caps she earned earlier this series.

Yastika has been highly impressive at different stages over the past few weeks, with the stylish left-hander's standout performance a match-winning 64 in the third ODI.

Pace bowler Renuka Singh has also been named to debut.

This is the first of three T20Is, with Australia currently leading the multi-format series 6-4. Each T20I is worth two points.

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Hannah Darlington, Tayla Vlaeminck

India XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh 

CommBank Series v India

Australia lead India 6-4 on points

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

First ODI:Australia won by nine wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by five wickets

Third ODI: India won by two wickets

One-off Test: Match drawn

Oct 7: First T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 9: Second T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 10: Third T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast