Steve Smith to lead Australia in ODI series against India | Cricket News – Times of India

Steve Smith will continue to lead Australia in the white-ball leg of the team’s India tour, after Pat Cummins, who lost his mother to illness recently, decided to stay back home to be with his family.
Cummins had flown back to Australia before the start of the third Test and missed two of the four matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which India won 2-1 after the fourth Test in Ahmedabad ended in a draw.
Smith captained India in the last two Tests in the absence of Cummins and led the the team to a comeback win in Indore, after the visitors had lost badly in Nagpur and Delhi to go 2-0 down.
“Our thoughts are with Pat and his family as they go through that grieving process,” head coach Andrew McDonald said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

There is no replacement for Cummins in the squad. Nathan Ellis was called up as a replacement for Jhye Richardson, who suffered another recurrence of his hamstring injury.
Smith has captained Australia in a total of 51 ODIs.
Leaving aside the absence of quick bowlers in the form of Cummins and injured Josh Hazlewood, Australia have selected a full-strength squad for the series with an aim to prepare for 50-over World Cup, which will be held in October-November this year in India.
“We have got a couple conversations around the balance of the team we want to play,” McDonald said. “We have gone in with a structure with eight batters to bat a little bit deeper, we have tried that. So there will be a mix of combinations as we lead into the World Cup.

“A lot of allrounders (have been) picked in the squad and they can all play in the one team. So we have got to answer a few of those questions.”
Maxwell is returning to the side after suffering a freak leg injury last November. A cautious approach is likely to be taken with him.
David Warner is fit once again after suffering an elbow injury during the Test series against India and Mitchell Marsh is also in line to return from an ankle surgery, which disrupted his home season following the T20 World Cup last year.
Ashton Agar is also back in India after a fall down the pecking order among the Test spinners. He made a statement by taking 5 for 64 for Western Australia in the recent Marsh Cup final.

(AI Image)
Australia ODI squad: David Warner, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
(With agency inputs)