Mitchell Starc back in ODI squad to spearhead Aussie pace attack
India to play three ODIs, followed by 5 T20Is
First tour match in Perth on October 19
As Australia on Tuesday announced their white-ball squads for the upcoming three ODI matches and the first two of the five T20Is in the home series against India beginning on October 19, the visiting world No. 1 ranked team will be fancying its chances as the hosts cope with injuries and a series of retirements from both formats.
Mitchell Marsh will once again lead the Aussies in both formats in the absence of regular captain and premier bowler Pat Cummins, who is continuing his recovery from a recurring lumbar bone stress and has apparently been kept out of the series to manage his workload carefully in preparation for a crucial Ashes campaign later in the Aussie summer.
Though their strike left-arm bowler Mitchell Starc and key batter Matt Short return to the international fold to take on a strong India line-up for the ODIs that includes batting greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the Aussie 50-over side is in the process of rebuilding ahead of the 2027 World Cup following the recent retirements of Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.
The workload of Mitchell Starc, who retired from T20Is last month, is also being carefully managed ahead of the Ashes series. He sat out the series against South Africa in August after returning from the West Indies Test tour.
Maxwell could also miss the entire T20 series after surgery last week on a fractured wrist suffered during training in the lead up to the New Zealand series.
Advertisement
Starc and Short’s return is among four changes to Australia’s ODI side that took on South Africa last month, with uncapped duo Matt Renshaw and Mitchel Owen also earning recalls to the side that lost the series 2-1 to the Proteas, filling up middle order roles.
Dropping out of the ODI squad are Aaron Hardie, Matthew Kuhnemann and Marnus Labuschagne, the latter having been left out of the squad to face India after scoring a pair of ones in his two innings against the Proteas.
ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (C), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Short, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.
Ins: Mitchell Owen, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc.
Outs: Aaron Hardie, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne
T20I squad (for first two games): Mitchell Marsh (C), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Ins: Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis.
Outs: Alex Carey, Josh Philippe
India squads
Earlier, India had named their white-ball squads for the upcoming tour, announcing that red-ball Test captain Shubman Gill will also lead the ODI squad, replacing Rohit Sharma, who, along with Virat Kohli, had retired from Tests and T20Is within the last 12 months.
Both Rohit and Virat will make their return to international cricket during the three-game ODI series against the Aussies after remaining out of action since the ICC Champions Trophy event at the start of the year.
Notable absentees from the India ODI squad that won the Champions Trophy early this year are Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakaravarthy, as well as the injured Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant.
Jasprit Bumrah, who has been included in the T20I squad, also doesn’t feature in the 50-over side, apparently influenced by considerations of his workload management.
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar Reddy finds a place in both the white-ball squads, while Mohammed Siraj makes a comeback to the ODI side. Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal are the others to be named in the 15-member ODI squad that will tour Australia.
India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
India T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
Series schedule:
First ODI: October 19, Perth
Second ODI: October 23, Adelaide
Third ODI: October 25, Sydney
First T20I: October 29, Canberra
Second T20I: October 31, Melbourne
Third T20I: November 2, Hobart
Fourth T20I: November 6, Gold Coast
Fifth T20I: November 8, Brisbane
