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.