The senior Australian players and the selectors faced flak for not giving importance to the limited overs series against Pakistan. Several senior players including captain Pat Cummins were rested from the ODI series decider whereas for the T20I series, the selectors have picked a second-string squad. Stand-in T20I captain Josh Inglis feels that it is not fair to lable the 13-man T20I squad as the 'B side'. He feels that this is going to happen whenever the schedules for different formats overall.
“I don’t think it’s very fair to say that, but we know how challenging the schedule is. There’s always series overlapping where players are used (in different) formats. There are decisions to be made. That’s above my pay grade, thankfully," Inglis said on the eve of the first T20I of the three-T20I series against Mohammad Rizwan-led side.
Senior all-format players Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and even T20I captain Mitchell Marsh are missing from the series against Pakistan. They have been rested strategically ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 opener in Perth starting November 22.
Inglis admits batting woes
In the absence of experienced campaigners, Australia suffered a batting collapse in Perth and lost the ODI series. The Australian batters were not upto the mark in the entire series. This was the first time an Australian batter failed to score a half-century in an ODI series. Inglis admitted that the big losses were unusual and intends to make up for it in the T20I series.
“There were big losses, and typically not something that we’re very used to. You’ve got to be honest, that batting group didn’t score enough runs and that’s on us to rectify that this week," the wicketkeeper-batter said.
“Everyone’s got their methods and how they go about it. It’s just about bringing them up this week, and let’s forget about what’s happened before. Just attack it head on and keep backing yourself … (but) we’ve seen how good a side this (Pakistan) team is and we don’t take any team we come against lightly,” he added.
Australia look to maintain record at home
Australia have never lost a T20I to Pakistan on their home soil even though the number of encounters have not been many. Meanwhile, Rizwan has made it clear that he wants to script history in Australia after ending 22-year drought in ODIs in country.
