Steven Smith Named as Captain for Australia in ODI Series Against India

Steven Smith has previously captained Australia in 51 ODIs.

While Cummins remains at home, David Warner and Ashton Agar are back in India for the ODI series starting Friday.

Information:

About the announcement:

Steven Smith will captain Australia in the ODI series against India with speedstar Pat Cummins remaining at home following the death of his mother last week.

Pat Cummins left the tour after the second Test in Delhi due to his mother's deteriorating health condition, then Smith took over as captain as they lost the series to clawed the scoreline back to 2-1.

This is an allrounder-heavy squad. Many times, last year they fielded very deep batting orders with either Cameron Green or Glenn Maxwell at No. 8. In this series, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, and Aston Agar are making comebacks. However, it's not clear if they will play all three games or the team will take a cautious approach.

Statement:

Words from Andrew McDonald:

"Our thoughts are with Pat and his family as they go through that grieving process," head coach Andrew McDonald said.

"We've got a couple conversations around the balance of the team we want to play," McDonald said "We've gone in with a structure with eight batters to bat a little bit deeper, we've tried that. So there'll 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've got to answer a few of those questions."

Information:

About the unavailability of players due to injury and other issues:

Cummins won't be replaced in the squad which leaves Australia with 15 players to choose from in the three-match series which begins on Friday in Mumbai. Nathan Ellis was previously called up as a replacement for Jhye Richardson who suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury. Australia have more ODIs against South Africa in August before needing to select their World Cup squad.

About the multiple Australian skippers in ODI:

With Smith taking charge, it means Australia will have had four captains in their last five ODIs. It may sound surprising, but true. Aaron Finch retired after the series against New Zealand in September with Pat Cummins named as his successor. However, when he was rested for the second match of the series against England in November, Josh Hazlewood became stand-in captain. Josh Hazlewood suffered from Achilles injury, forcing to take rest during the Test series.

Australia ODI squad vs India:

David Warner, Travis Head, Steven Smith (capt), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa