Australian cricketer Marnus Labuschagne has expressed bemusement at the scheduling of a bilateral T20 series against India four days after the World Cup final.
On Thursday evening, India hosts Australia for the first of five T20s in the subcontinent, the fourth bilateral white-ball series between the two nations since September last year.
Seven members of Australia’s triumphant World Cup squad have remained in India for the T20s, while opener David Warner withdrew from the five-match series at the eleventh hour, replaced by West Australian all-rounder Aaron Hardie.
Australia’s mult-format bowlers and all-rounders — Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green — were not selected for the T20s due to workload management ahead of the home Test summer, which gets underway next month.
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Labuschagne, who scored an unbeaten half-century during Australia’s six-wicket victory over India in Ahmedabad, confessed it was “hard to fathom” his World Cup teammates were playing international cricket four days after the marquee tournament.
“It is astonishing that there’s another game on tomorrow,” Labuschagne said on Wednesday, as reported by AAP.
“That’s hard to fathom. It’s hard to fathom how those guys are going to be playing in a day’s time.
“But that’s just the nature of the scheduling, it’s the nature of cricket at the moment. We’ve got three weeks until the first Test, so guys will be freshening up, getting themselves ready for the next challenge.”
Travis Head, named player of the match for his heroic 137 (120) in the World Cup final against India, also features in Australia’s T20 squad, but Marsh expressed doubts over whether the South Australian would play the series opener in Vishakhapatnam.
“I’m not sure he will be playing that game,” Marsh told reporters after touching down in Perth on Wednesday.
“I’m no coach or selector, but if he plays that game it will be a miracle.”
Cummins joked with media in Sydney: “I look forward to seeing (Head) play tomorrow.”
Steve Smith is expected to open the batting in India, auditioning for the role ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States of America.
The New South Welshman was dropped from Australia’s T20 side last year, but pushed his case for a recall after blasting back-to-back centuries for the Sydney Sixers in last season’s Big Bash League.
Australia, led by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, will face India at Vishakhapatnam’s Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium on Friday morning AEDT, with the first ball scheduled for 12.30am AEDT.
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Australia T20 squad
Matthew Wade (c), Aaron Hardie, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa
India T20 squad
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer (last two matches only).
India vs Australia T20 Fixtures
November 24 at 12.30am — First T20, Vishakhapatnam
November 27 at 12.30am — Second T20, Thiruvananthapuram
November 29 at 12.30am — Third T20, Guwahati
December 2 at 12.30am — Fourth T20, Raipur
December 4 at 12.30am — Fifth T20, Bengaluru
* All times AEDT
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