Why is Pat Cummins not playing vs Sri Lanka: Australia are playing international cricket in Sri Lanka after six years.
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During the first T20I of the ongoing Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Australia captain Aaron Finch has won the toss and chose to field.
“We will bowl first, looks like a very good wicket and we back ourselves to chase any score down. A bit dry but should be a good batting surface once the ball goes soft. [Glenn] Maxwell has shown both for Australia and in the IPL [2022] that he can bowl at any time and at any stage of the game, so we are happy to go with just one specialist spinner,” Finch told Dialog TV at the toss.
Much like Finch, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka is also banking on some of his players excelling in the recently concluded 15th season of the Indian Premier League.
“The boys have performed well with their respective franchises in the IPL and this is a confident side. We have grown as a team over the past few months. Happy to bat first, looks like a good surface,” Shanaka told Dialog TV at the toss.
Why is Pat Cummins not playing vs Sri Lanka today?
An almost full-strength T20I Playing XI for the visitors sees them replicating their ICC T20 World Cup 2022-winning squad. Having said that, two players who are missing from that squad are fast bowler Pat Cummins and spinner Adam Zampa.
While Cummins has been rested for this three-match T20I series, Zampa is on paternal leave. It was only today that Cummins took to his social media platforms Twitter to share his preparations for travelling to Sri Lanka for the ODIs and Tests that will follow the T20Is.
On my way #srilanka pic.twitter.com/YpTfrnWI9O
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) June 7, 2022
Just as his Test captain, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne will also arrive soon in Sri Lanka following a County Championship 2022 and Vitality Blast 2022 stint at Glamorgan.