Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa not playing: Australia have made as many as three changes to their Playing XI for this match.
Advertisement
During the third T20I of the ongoing Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia in Canberra, Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and chose to bowl first.
“It can dew up at night, that’s why we bowled,” Finch told Fox Sports at the toss in what is only the third T20I at the Manuka Oval.
Playing a must-win match to be alive in the series, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka hoped for a better performance than their super over loss in Sydney on Sunday. “We played real good cricket in Sydney, hopefully we’ll come up with a better one here,” Shanaka told Fox Cricket at the toss.
Australia have won the toss and will bowl first at Manuka Oval.
The first innings average at the ground over the past two Big Bash seasons is 171.#AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/KsXCYQod3A
— bet365 AUS (@bet365_aus) February 15, 2022
Why are Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa not playing 3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka?
Coming on the back of a couple of victories, Australia have still made three changes to their Playing XI. All-rounder Daniel Sams, who played the last of his four T20Is almost a year ago, has replaced injured batter Steven Smith for this match.
A couple of other crucial changes for the hosts lie in them including all-rounder Ashton Agar and fast bowler Mitchell Starc for fast bowler Pat Cummins and spinner Adam Zampa. Finch subsequently confirmed at the toss that both Cummins and Zampa have been rested.
“Steve [Steven Smith], with his concussion, is out. Patty [Pat] Cummins is rested and so is Adam Zampa. Ashton Agar gets an opportunity. Mitchell Starc is back in the side and Daniel Sams. Smith is a little bit better today.” Finch added.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, continue to face the brunt of COVID-19. While batter Kusal Mendis has recovered to play in place of Avishka Fernando, star all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga will be out of action after contacting the virus.
“Very unfortunate [Wanindu Hasaranga testing positive for COVID-19]. We are lucky Jeffrey Vandersay is here with us so it’s OK for us,” Shanaka mentioned.
