Josh Inglis will replace regular T20I captain Mitchell Marsh for the upcoming three-match series against Pakistan. Marsh and several other big players are set to miss Australia’s series against Pakistan due to paternity and other reasons. Josh will also captain Australia’s final ODI against Pakistan at Perth due to the absence of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, and Josh Hazlewood. The trio was put on rest by the selection committee ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Being named T20I captain, Inglish now becomes Australia’s 14th T20I and 30th ODI captain, a milestone approved by the board on the selectors’ recommendation. He will lead Australia despite his very limited captaincy experience at the BBL level as compared to teammates Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa. Yet the selectors feel there is the leadership quality in Inglis who earlier captained the Prime Minister’s XI against the West Indies back in 2022.
Apart from naming Josh Inglis as the T20I captain, Australia will bring several new faces in the Perth ODI too in Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson, and Josh Philippe in an effort to strengthen their team. The absence of Cummins, Smith, Hazlewood, Starc, and Labuschagne from the T20 series is the proof that Australia is in the process of preparing themselves for Test summer.
The team has added Xavier Bartlett and Spencer Johnson to prepare their final team for all the hectic games that will be lined up. Lance Morris also remains with the team following his fill-in for Hazlewood for one of the recent Sheffield Shield games.
This step is consistent with an updated trend of providing the wicketkeeper batting position to leadership roles post recent appointments in Australia as Matthew Wade has been constant in his appearances as vice-captain and has led the T20 side in several matches this year, including the recent World Cup.
Josh Inglis, now set to be the T20I captain, is indeed one of the players trusted by Australia in terms of his tactical acumen in the game and his bright influence on the team itself.
Josh Inglis set to become T20I captain, coaching changes also on cards
Rhe T20I coaching staff will also be revised, with assistant coach Andre Borovec to captain the side, assisted by former Australia batter Brad Hodge as assistant coach and Wade as interim fielding and keeping coach.
In this reshuffled setup, Australia hope to provide a more strategic depth and newfound leadership to face Pakistan, who promises to be the most testing and dynamic series.
Australia’s ODI squad vs Pakistan: Pat Cummins (capt), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Australia’s T20I squad vs Pakistan: Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis (capt), Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
