BBL 2020: Peter Handscomb joins Michael Hussey, George Bailey for top tournament honour

The tenth edition of Big Bash League kicked off on Thursday, December 10 with Hobart Hurricanes taking on defending champions Sydney Sixers in the BBL 2020. Australia's premier T20 tournament will be played in a different format this year amid the pandemic. Unlike the previous editions, the BBL 2020 won't follow a home and away style as the BBL 2020 will be played across eight venues of the Australian continent this year.

Amid the issues regarding the bio-bubble, many star players like Jonny Bairstow, Tom Curran and Tom Banton have withdrawn their participation from the tournament. However, the tournament still has many high profile names taking part this year as 8 teams battle it out to win the title. There will be over 61 matches played in BBL 10 over the next 2 months which consists of five knockout-round matches.

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Earlier on Thursday, Peter Handscomb played his first match as the captain of a new BBL franchise. He joined in an elite group of players as he took charge of the Hurricanes against the Sixers for the first time. Earlier, Handscomb was an integral part of the Melbourne Stars team.

Hobart Hurricanes 2020 squad

D’Arcy Short, Caleb Jewell, Colin Ingram, Peter Handscomb (C & WK), Will Jacks, Mac Wright, Riley Meredith, Johan Botha, James Faulkner, Nathan Ellis, Scott Boland, Charlie Wakim, Nick Winter, Tim David

Unavailable due to national commitments - Moises Henriques, Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Tim Paine, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dawid Malan, Keemo Paul, Jason Holder.

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Peter Handscomb and the Hobert Hurricanes started off their BBL 10 campaign with a win as they defeated the Sydney Sixers in the first match of the BBL 2020. The Hobert Hurricanes put up an impressive 178/8 on board in the first match as Colin Inglram’s 55 and Tim David’s 58 helped Handscomb’s team put up a massive total on board.

Playing in his first match as captain, Peter Handscomb managed to score 24 runs off 20 balls before being dismissed by Steve O’ Keefe in the 9th over of the game. A solid bowling performance from the Hurricanes helped them defeat defending champions Sydney Sixers by 16 runs in the tournament opener.

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The Indian cricket team is also in Australia as they play each other for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Aussies managed to win the ODIS while the Indians took away the T20I series. Both the teams are set to play in the 4 Test matches starting on December 17. Handscomb is not part of the Australian Test squad this time, having played in the 2018 series.

India vs Australia 2020 squad

Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj

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