It comes back to the old guard, as Steve Smith is set to lead Australia in the three match ODI series against India, starting from Friday, in Mumbai . He takes the place of Pat Cummins as the latter has decided to stay in home following his mother Maria’s demise last week.
Steve Smith is set to lead his team after a hiatus of five years.
Successful short stint
Smith took over the test captaincy from Cummins after losing the second test versus India in Border Gavaskar trophy, which was eventually won by India by a margin of 2-1. After a humble defeat in the second test, Cummins flew back home citing personal reasons.
“Our thoughts are with Pat and his family as they go through that grieving process,” head coach Andrew MacDonald was heard saying this after the heartbreaking news of passing away of Maria, Cummins’s mother.
So, in the short stint of two tests that Smith has played as a stand-in skipper, he has led Australia to a victory in the third test , thus reducing the deficit by 2-1.
With a draw in the final match, a World Test Championship final clash has been set up, at the Oval in June. He was praised because of implying his mastermind captaincy techniques , which helped to defeat India by nine wickets in the third test.
The seasoned veteran is back
Smith has captained Australia in 51 ODIs. He has a very good record in ODIs , amassing more than 4900 runs and adding 12 tons to his credit.
With Cummins missing, Australia is left with fifteen players as Cummins is irreplaceable. Quick bowler Nathan Ellis was previously called up as a replacement for Jhye Richardson who suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury.
Full squad to play
Apart from the missing fast bowlers, Australia has selected a full strength ODI squad, with all-rounders swarming in the lineup. They would like to explore with their options which are available with them, as was indicated from the words of coach McDonald.
“We’ve got a couple conversations around the balance of the team we want to play, we’ve gone in with a structure with eight batters to bat a little bit deeper, we’ve tried that. So there’ll be a mix of combinations as we lead into the World Cup. A lot of allrounders [have been] picked in the squad and they can all play in the one team. So we’ve got to answer a few of those questions,”- the coach was heard saying.
Maxwell returns from a broken leg injury which forced him out of play since November, thus he will be played with a little bit of extra caution, keeping the World Cup in mind. Mitchel Marsh is back again from an ankle injury and is assumed to play the three match series. David Warner is also expected to be included in the star-studded squad, after missing out last two test matches.
Australia ODI squad vs India:- David Warner, Travis Head, Steven Smith (capt), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
