Shane Warne has not named Steve Smith in his playing XI.
Spin wizard Shane Warne has named his Australian playing XI for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and surprisingly has left out premier batsman Steve Smith from his team.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 is underway in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. While the associate nations along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are playing each other for a place in the Super 12s stage, the main teams are crossing swords with each other in warmup games.
Australian Cricket team started their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign with a nail-biting win against New Zealand in the warmup game at Abu Dhabi.
With just four days remaining for the start of the Super 12s stage, Shane Warne has picked his Australian XI for the marquee tournament. The legendary leg-spinner picked the duo of David Warner and Aaron Finch as the openers in his team.
Warne made a brave call and left out Steve Smith from his team, picking Marcus Stoinis at No.3 followed by Glenn Maxwell and wicketkeeper Jos Inglis. Mitchell Marsh is the second all-rounder in his team while the place of Dan Christian and Aston Agar will depend on the conditions.
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The two pacers in his team are Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins while there’s a toss-up between Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazelwood and Kane Richardson for the third pacer with Adam Zampa being the lone spinner in his side.
Australia is placed in the Group 1 of the Super 12s stage with West Indies, England, South Africa, and two qualifying teams. They will kick start their campaign against the Proteas on 23rd October.
"Wow, what a start to the @ICC #T20WorldCup! My Aussie team would be --Finch, Warner, Stoinis, Maxwell, Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Christian/Agar (depending on conditions), Cummins, Starc, Zampa, Ellis/Richardson/Hazlewood (depending on conditions) What would your Oz team be and who's winning,"Shane Warne Tweeted.
Here’s Shane Warne Australian XI for the T20 World Cup:
Aaron Finch, David Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Jos Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Dan Christian/ Aston Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis/ Kane Richardson/ Josh Hazelwood
(ANI Inputs)