India, Oct. 29 -- Arshdeep Singh, India's leading wicket-taker in T20Is, failed to make the cut in the playing XI for the series opener against Australia in Canberra. The left-arm pacer, who played the first two ODIs earlier on the tour, was benched on Wednesday despite having a terrific record in the shortest format. The visitors picked two frontline pacers, with Jasprit Bumrah being the automatic choice, while Harshit Rana made the cut over Arshdeep as the second pick. Despite the overcast conditions, India went ahead with their tried and tested combination of playing three spinners - Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.

Despite being India's only bowler with over 100 T20I wickets, Arshdeep has struggled to secure a consi...