Four days after the World Cup final on November 19, a five-match Twenty20 series began in India, with seven members of the winning Australian team staying behind.
Aussie reinforcements after two defeats: The first two games were won by a subpar Indian team; reports from Australia said that Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, and Chris Green were among the replacements sent to relieve the struggling World Cup heroes.
Endless workload: Given that the players-some of whom have been playing in India since September-had a hectic domestic cricket summer ahead of them, including Test matches against Pakistan and the West Indies, Cummins acknowledged the strain on them.
Cummins stood by his men while talking to reporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground
“They’re humans, they’re not robots. Putting everything into a World Cup and then playing a couple of days later — I probably don’t begrudge them if they’re not at 100 percent. These are still games for Australia and it’s great that these tours do provide opportunities for some of the younger guys, or guys who might not be in the first eleven. I think these are important tours and you can get a lot out of them.”
David Warner‘s future: After the Pakistan series, veteran opener David Warner, who was left out of the T20I team the night before the India series, is expected to say goodbye to Test cricket.
Warner, 37, was Australia’s top World Cup scorer with 535 runs, but his Test place has been in doubt following a poor run of red-ball play.
Cummins said Warner was ‘hitting the ball beautifully at the moment’
“He wasn’t just playing for himself out there, he would go and take the game on, be really brave and really take it to the opposition,” Cummins said of Warner’s displays in India.
Home series against Pakistan: The first Test against Pakistan starts on December 14 in Perth before the Boxing Day match in Melbourne. The third and final Test will be at Warner’s home Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3, 2024.
With AFP inputs