Ashton Agar opening record in T20: Why is Aaron Finch not opening in today’s 3rd T20I between Australia and Sri Lanka?

Ashton Agar opening record: The all-rounder is slated to open the batting in the ongoing 3rd Australia vs Sri Lanka T20I.

Australia all-rounder Ashton Agar, who had to warm the bench for a large part of ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE, is playing his first international match today.

Agar’s chance to sneak into the Playing XI came on the back of Australia resting first-choice spinner Adam Zampa in addition to fast bowler Pat Cummins.

Other than surprisingly resting the aforementioned duo, the hosts have made another astonishing change in their batting order. Australia’s team sheet for the third T20I against Sri Lanka had in store a promotion for Agar as the southpaw will be opening the batting alongside Ben McDermott at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday.

Ashton Agar opening record

Agar, who had scored a world record 98 (101) at No. 11 on Test debut against England in Nottingham eight years ago, opening the batting in a T20I will go down as an improvement story for the ages.

The highest that Agar has batted in international cricket is No. 3. While he also an innings at No. 4, 34 out of his 44 innings across formats for Australia have come at No. 7 and 8.

As far as T20s are concerned, Agar’s three innings as an opening batter had come for Perth Scorchers during Champions League T20 in 2013. Agar, who had opened the batting against Otago, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, had scored 55 runs at an average and strike rate of 18.33 and 98.21 respectively.

Ashton Agar, who averages 3.00 with a strike rate of 53.57 when batting in the top six in T20 internationals (5 innings), is down to open the batting tonight.#AUSvSL

— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) February 15, 2022

Introduced into the attack in the seventh over, Agar registered economical bowling figures of 4-0-14-1 dismissing Sri Lanka batter Kusal Mendis (4) in the process.

Finch, on the other hand, didn’t reveal any reason behind his batting demotion. Not been in the best of forms lately, Finch’s 492 T20I runs in the last 12 months have come at an average and strike rate of 27.33 and 123.3 respectively. It is noteworthy that this is only the eighth time in 85 innings that Finch isn’t opening the batting for Australia.

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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