Australia Name New Captain For Four White-ball Games Against Pakistan

Australia have named a new captain for the last four matches of their white-ball series against Pakistan.

The ODI series against Pakistan got underway on November 4 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as the first ODI ended up being a low-scoring thriller. Australia restricted Pakistan to 203, before the visitors reduced them to 155-7. Thereafter, Australian captain Pat Cummins helped his side over the line in 33.3 overs, remaining not out on 32.

Josh Inglis named Australian captain for four white-ball games against Pakistan

The top scorer for Australia was wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, who struck 49 off 42 balls. He has now been named as Australia's captain for the third ODI, as well as the three-match T20I series to follow, against the same opposition.

Regular ODI captain Pat Cummins is set to miss the third ODI on November 10, along with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as they prepare for the upcoming Test series against India, which begins on November 22. Pace bowlers Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett and keeper-batter Josh Phillipe also have been added to the ODI squad for the final match.

Australia had not named a captain for the T20I series, with regular skipper Mitchell Marsh excluded from the squad for paternity leave. Inglis will now take up the role.

The wicketkeeper will become the 30th man to lead Australia in ODIs, and the 14th to do so in T20Is. The 29-year-old has been in a rich vein of form of late. In September, he broke the Australian record for the fastest T20I century (man or woman), before excelling with knocks of 37 and 42 in the T20I series against England.

Inglis has also scored 319 runs in six innings for Western Australia in the 2024/25 Sheffield Shield, averaging nearly 64. His form ignited suggestions of a shock Test call-up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but those were swiftly put to bed by Australian head coach Andrew McDonald.

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Inglis has only captained in two matches outside of age group cricket. The first came in the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior Cricket League Division One in 2013, when he led Pool against Otley in a 50-over game. The second came over nine years later, when he captained an Australian Prime Minister's XI in November 2022 against the touring West Indies team in a four-day game. He has never captained a team in T20 cricket.

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