With the ICC World Cup barely three months away, the Indian team’s primary focus right now is to zero in on the squad that’ll take the flight to England.

About 12 players are sure to make the cut, but there are still a few spots up for grabs. And apart from IPL 2019, which may provide the opportunity for a few players to sneak into India’s World Cup squad, the only matches left to test the bench are the limited-overs games against Australia.

The first of these matches, a T20 International in Vizag, was played on Sunday, with the hosts finding themselves on the losing end of a thrilling last-ball finish.

Now, the results of the two T20Is and five One-Day Internationals that India will play against Australia are largely inconsequential, but these matches are important for those players wanting to fill up the World Cup squad; important also because it is a chance to see how these players, regardless of their individual form, fit into the team set-up.

At the toss for the first T20I on Sunday, Indian captain Virat Kohli said that he wants to give as much game-time to the World Cup probables as possible.

Keeping that in mind, the hosts left out first-eleven regular Shikhar Dhawan and opened the batting with KL Rahul, who made a comeback to the Indian team after a controversy-ridden lay-off.

KL Rahul impresses

The stylish right-hander repaid the faith and top-scored with 50 off 36. Rahul looked in command from the get-go, stroking six boundaries and one six en route his half-century.

In Test matches, he often seems to be caught in two minds but T20 cricket seems to free him from the shackles. He comes out and knows he is expected to go for his shots. That certainty helps him get into the groove early. A few more knocks like this through the course of this series might see him board the plan to England.

However, batting first, India could manage just a paltry 126/7 in 20 overs. The other two batsmen who are in the fray for World Cup births - Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik - registered single digit scores. Pant got run-out for three after a horrendous mix-up, and Karthik was castled for one run after stepping out and getting beaten all ends up by Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was later adjudged Player of the Match.

There, of course, will be another debate around Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 37-ball 29. Too slow? Still rusty? Part of it was forced by the fall of wickets and the batsmen he was batting with (the tail-enders) but on the other hand, the former skipper, just isn’t able to bring out the big shots with any sort of consistency anymore.

A night to forget for Umesh

Australia chased down the target off the last ball of the match, with Glenn Maxwell making the biggest contribution - 56 runs from 43 deliveries. But if it weren’t for Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson hitting a boundary each in the last over, Australia could well have stolen defeat from the jaws of victory.

That Australia were even in that position was down to two three Mumbai Indians bowlers — Krunal Pandya, Mayank Markande, and of course, Jasprit Bumrah.

The visitors were cruising when Maxwell was at the crease. They needed 38 runs from 40 balls with eight wickets in hand when he got out. It was Krunal’s top spell of one for 17, Markande’s five-run 18th over followed by Bumrah’s magical 19th over - where just two runs were conceded even as he claimed two wickets, one with a scorching yorker - that brought India back into the contest.

Markande, on his debut, might not have taken wickets but his fourth over under pressure was enough to earn a mention from Kohli in the post-match presentation.

And what can one say about Bumrah? The thing about his extraordinary 19th over is that you have come to expect that of him. It just goes to show his control and consistency that he can do that in his first match after a break — no signs of rustiness.

Unfortunately at the other end, Umesh Yadav’s 20th over stood in stark contrast to Bumrah’s. The Vidarbha lad had 14 runs to defend in the last over. The right-arm pacer, very much in the running for a World Cup spot, failed to bowl to his field and costed India the match. Yadav finished with the worst figures for the hosts - 0/35 from four overs - and ended up becoming the butt of jokes on social media.

Yadav, in the few chances he has got with the white ball for India, has reverted to type by leaking boundaries due to a lack of consistency — a problem that plagued him in the early parts of his career, before he appeared to revitalise himself in last year’s IPL.

Overall, apart from Rahul and Pandya, India’s fringe players proved to be a disappointing lot in Vizag. The second T20I is in Bengaluru on Wednesday, and Kohli might be tempted to go full-strength in order to level the series.