The jerseys might have changed, the format might have changed, the composition of the teams might have changed but India's misery down under showed no signs of abating as the touring party slumped to another shameful surrender which saw them lose the opening T20 in Sydney by 31 runs. The Indian limited overs side will have to hit its straps quickly to break the Aussie jinx and carry some vital momentum forward into the Commonwealth Bank Tri series that begins on February 5th. The Aussies, on a roll at the moment will go all out when they collide with the beleaguered Indians in the final T20 game at Melbourne on Friday to clinch the short series 2-0.

Australia:

The Australians thoroughly outplayed the Indians in all departments of the game to cruise to a comfortable win at the Olympic Park in Sydney. George Bailey, the first Australian to skipper the side on debut since the 1800s made the right moves and put all the doubts regarding his leadership skills to rest. The promotion of Matthew Wade to the top of the order proved to be a masterstroke where he slammed a 43 ball 72 to leave the Indian bowling in disarray. The Australian captain marshaled his resources expertly and outshone his counterpart, MS Dhoni, who failed to read the pitch and quite shockingly elected to field first after winning the toss.

A blistering 72 from new wicketkeeper batsman Matthew Wade, and some inspired bowling by the Australian spinners helped the hosts cruise to a facile 31 run win in the 1st T20 of the series at Sydney on Wednesday night. India got a lot of decisions wrong today - starting with their team selection, failing to read the pitch and choosing poorly at the toss - and that didn't help their cause one bit. After being invited to make first use of a poor quality wicket, Australia posted a strong 171/4 in their 20 overs. A late fightback from the Indians prevented the Aussies from getting a lot more after their top order had made the most of the best batting conditions on offer. India started well in their chase, but lost three crucial wickets in the middle overs, two to part-timer David Hussey to push them behind the required run-rate. And from there on some poor shot selection on a pitch with virtually no bounce left them too much to do late on in their innings. A battling unbeaten 48 from skipper MS Dhoni was the only real highlight of the Indian innings. 

The jerseys might have changed, but the intent of the Aussies to completely demoralize India hadn’t. While at the other end, India was seeking a small opportunity to get back to winning ways as the first international T20 of the Australian summer got underway at a brand new cricket venue, Sydney's Olympic Park. With a splattering of rain and a newly laid track, it was slightly surprising to see Indian skipper MS Dhoni opt to bowl first on winning the toss.

After the surprisingly one-sided test series, one can be rest assured that the games in coloured clothing will not reflect the same at the end of what promises to be a gruelling month and a half of fast paced cricket. The limited overs leg of India's tour of Australia will kick-start on the 1st of February with India taking on a confident Australian side at the Olympic park in Sydney.

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This short T20 series will have much greater significance than such T20s have had in the past for many reasons. With the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year, this will probably be the only chance for either side to test their likely combinations for that extravaganza to be played in Sri Lanka. Secondly, India will need to take these games rather seriously to break the Aussie stranglehold in this series and get some momentum back in their favour before the tri-nation ODI series that also commences next week.

The Cricket Australia National Selection Panel (NSP) has today announced a 14-man squad for the KFC T20 INTL matches against India. Two KFC T20 INTL matches will be played between Australia and India, with the first taking place at Sydney Olympic Park on 1 February, 2012. George Bailey has been named the new Australian T20 captain.

Commenting on the squad, National Selector John Inverarity said: "Australia's T20 Team has been ranked a disappointing 6th in World Rankings. It is considered that the team needs refreshment and a number of changes have been made.

England defended their reputation as the reigning World T20 champions and registered their first victory in their last match of what has been a very sorry tour of India. The barometer of England's success was their polished bowling performance. The leader of their pace battery Steve Finn picked up 3-22 to thwart India's hopes of building up a challenging score. Tim Bresnan and Ravi Bopara picked up 2 wickets apiece to restrict the Men in Blue to 120-9. Later in the evening, Kevin Pietersen powered the English chase with a plucky 53 bordered with improvisation. Eventually, England romped home by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare.

A confident Indian outfit took to field at the gorgeous Eden Gardens in Kolkata with the aim of sending the Poms home winless. Robin Uthappa, who was back into the Indian team after a long hiatus was expected to open the batting for hosts in the absence of Gautam Gambhir. The Indian batting was also bolstered by  the return of Yusuf Pathan, who has been decimating domestic attacks of late. Meanwhile, Jharkhand speedster Varun Aaron was benched.

Reigning ICC World Twenty20 champion England was unveiled as the number-one ranked side in the shortest format of the game as the ICC Twenty20 International (T20I) team rankings were launched at the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Monday. England, which is also the top ranked Test side, has a rating of 127 points and leads second-placed Sri Lanka by just one rating point.

Only six ratings points separate the next four sides with New Zealand occupying third position on 117, followed by South Africa, ICC World Twenty20 2007 winner India, and Australia. ICC World Twenty20 2009 champion Pakistan is in seventh position, 14 ratings points behind Australia, with West Indies, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe to follow.