Australia releases six of their World Cup-winning squad members from the ongoing five-match T20I series against India. The decision aims to provide a break to players who have been in India for over two months, many of whom were part of Australia's ODI squad of the ICC Men's World Cup 2023.
World Cup winners Steve Smith and Adam Zampa have already returned home ahead of the clash between Australia and India in Guwahati. Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, and Sean Abbott will return back to Australia after the third T20I in Guwahati.
Travis Head, who struck century against India and became the Player of the Match in the World Cup final 2023, is the only member staying for the remaining T20I matches and is set to open the batting from the third T20I.
Photo: AP
Replacements for Inglis, Smith, and Zampa include Josh Phillippe and Ben McDermott, who have joined the squad in Guwahati. Ben Dwarshuis and Chris Green will likely join ahead of the fourth T20I with Green making his debut to address the need for a specialist finger spinner.
Australia, with a score 0-2 against India, had only Smith from the World Cup final XI in both T20Is. Stoinis and Abbott, part of the World Cup squad, played both matches. Despite Maxwell and Zampa returning for the second T20I, Australia's fortunes remained unchanged. David Warner withdrew from the T20I squad earlier.
India, with no changes to their squad for the third match, will see Shreyas Iyer available for selection from the next match onward. Iyer is also set to take over as the vice-captain from Ruturaj Gaikwad, while Suryakumar Yadav continues to lead the side in the absence of Hardik Pandya.
The updated Australia T20 squad for the India series includes Matthew Wade (c), Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Chris Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, and Kane Richardson.
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