Australian cricket team coach Justin Langer has confirmed the return of Steve Smith for the upcoming ODI series between Indian and Australia. The coach, however, said that after Smith’s comeback, the selectors are in two minds about the finalization of the team.
Smith had to drop out of the last ODI venture of Australia against England. The star batsman had suffered a concussion during the training session, which made him retract from the game. After recovery, the cricketer then featured in the 13th edition of IPL, registering 311 runs while leading his team Rajasthan Royals (RR). The team ended up at the 6th position of the points table.
The RR skipper is now in the perfect form and is all perked-up about joining the team and going all out.
The Australian team will be ditching Mitch Marsh so as to give him his time to recover from the ankle injury the cricketer suffered during IPL. Here, Smith’s entry comes as a great relief in the absence of Marsh who ensured the team’s victory against England in their last ODI.
Langer said, “We’ll probably lean that way (picking Smith for Marsh) but we did learn and we’ve talked about in our foundation for one-day cricket going forward, we really like that extra bowling option.”
“In England, we had Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell able to get us at least 10 overs. So we like that combination, the extra all-rounder.
“Obviously Steve will come straight back in and there are some headaches but they’re good headaches. There’s a lot of talk about selection, they give you a few headaches, but I promise they’re really good headaches to have.”
“Picking the final XI is what keeps you awake at night because it’s hard to pick 13 or 14 deserved players into 11 spots. Whatever team we put on the park we think is going to be a good team,” the Aussie coach asserted.
The three-match ODIs will underway on Friday. They are scheduled for November 27, November 29, and December 2. After completing the ODI series, both teams will compete in three T20Is that will witness its completion by the second week of December. The teams will then head to Adelaide for their day-night Test match. The four-Test series is part of the World Test Championship.
