Daniel Sams debut: Who is leading Australia in Aaron Finch’s absence?

Dixit Bhargav | 06/12/2020
Daniel Sams debut: Who is leading Australia in Aaron Finch's absence?

Who is leading Australia: The Australian captain hasn’t been included in their Playing XI for the second T20I in Sydney.

During the second T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of Australia in Sydney, India captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and elected to field. Other than all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who has been ruled out of the series, India have made a couple of more changes to their Playing XI.

While batsman Manish Pandey has been excluded citing an elbow niggle, fast bowler Mohammed Shami has been rested to manage his workload. Batsman Shreyas Iyer, pacer Shardul Thakur and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will be seen playing this match in place of Jadeja, Pandey and Shami.

“We will bowl first. Pitch looked really nice in the second half in the previous games we played. They are missing Aaron Finch today, so we want to restrict them and chase it down,” Kohli told Fox Sports at the toss.

Who is leading Australia in Aaron Finch’s absence?

Amidst an injury scare around multiple players in the team, Australia have additionally lost the services of captain Aaron Finch for this match. Had regular vice-captain Pat Cummins been in the squad for this series, he would have led the Aussies but even his absence made wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade Australia’s 11th T20I captain.

“Well someone had to step in [to lead the side]. Happy to be captaining Australia,” Wade told Fox Sports at the toss. Being asked about the changes made to the Playing XI, Wade made public that pacer Josh Hazlewood (sore back) will be joining Finch and spearhead Mitchell Starc in missing this match.

While Australia have handed a debut to left-arm pacer Daniel Sams as Starc’s like-for-like replacement, injured all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has replaced Finch in the XI.

Fast bowler Andrew Tye, whose last international appearance was in a T20I against India at the same venue, has been handed a comeback after two years as Hazlewood’s replacement.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Aaron Finch Australia Daniel Sams India India tour of Australia 2020-21 matthew wade

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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