Australia made a number of changes in their squad in the recent T20I series against India. Six members of Australia’s World Cup winning squad will be rested during the upcoming five-match T20I series against India to manage their workload after their ODI World Cup victory.
The decision was taken to give leave to the players who had been in India for about two months. Most of these players were also members of his team for Australia’s One Day International, which played his three consecutive matches against India before the World Cup.
Travis Head is the only member of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad to take part in the remaining T20Is. Head, who was named the man of the match in the World Cup final, is yet to feature in this series and is likely to start in the third T20 match against India.
Australia have made significant changes as selectors consider options for the next three matches of the five-match series. Steve Smith and Adam Zampa will reportedly return home ahead of the third match in Guwahati tonight, while Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis and Sean Abbott are expected to return tomorrow is.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe and big batsman Ben McDermott have arrived in Guwahati and are now available for selection. Off-spinners Ben Dwarshuis and Chris Green are set to join the squad ahead of the fourth T20I in Raipur on Wednesday. Green will make his Twenty20 International debut in the fourth match as Australian team management recognized the team needed a specialist finger spinner.
Australia lost the first two matches against the strong Indian batting line-up and are currently 0-2 in the series. Smith was the only member of Australia’s World Cup winning eleven to play in both Twenty20 internationals. Stoinis and Abbott were part of the World Cup squad but appeared in both games, although they didn’t play much.
Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa returned for the second T20I but could not change the course for Australia. Even before the series started, David Warner was left out of his T20I squad.
Latest Australian T20 team for India series: Matthew Wade (c), Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Chris Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Ben McDermott, Josh Philip, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Kane Richardson
