Australia will be playing T20I series against Pakistan starting on November 14, Cricket Australia announced their 13-member squad for the series. Pace bowlers Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, and Spencer Johnson, have returned after recovering from injuries. Rested Test players and the recent T20I leaders, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, are unavailable, hence the selection committee hasn’t named a captain yet.

Australia Squad Announced

The three-game series will start in Brisbane on November 16 followed by matches in Sydney and Hobart on November 16 and 18 respectively. The team will have ample opportunities to test the strength in depth of the Australian team by resting some of their major players. Importantly, the series ends four days ahead of the opening Test against India in Perth and is one of the reasons the Test team has been rested. Chairman of selectors George Bailey justified the different squads.

“They just cross over a little bit in terms of the preparation. The Test squad will be arriving in Perth and sort of finalizing their Test prep around the time of that second T20. We’ve been really clear that we are prioritizing the preparation for individuals around the Test summer and that’ll be the first time that we get that group together. So rather than switching guys in and out and it becoming quite messy, it was just deemed more appropriate for a number of reasons to separate them out,” Bailey said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

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Introducing our Men’s T20I squad to take on @TheRealPCB next month 🇦🇺 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/5TdEF3EqMd

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) October 28, 2024

Australia Squad: Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Tim David, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson, Matthew Short, Cooper Connolly, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Adam Zampa

PAK Vs AUS, T20I Series: Full Schedule

The Opening Duo For Australia

Coming back are the side-strain Bartlett, Ellis (hamstring injury), and Johnson, who’s already back to domestic cricket. Both Bartlett and Ellis will probably be fit enough to be included in the playing eleven for the opening match of the series. Opening could still go to Matthew Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk while Maxwell will be included after he was rested in the UK tour.

Who’ll Be The Captain?

Captaincy contenders for the Australian squad are some of the BBL captains, such as Maxwell, Adam Zampa, Short, Aaron Hardie, and even Josh Inglis.

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Regarding the coaching staff, there are changes for the top roles. Head coach Andy is not available because he was named head coach to assist during the Test series against India by assistant coach Andre Borovec. Former Australian batting coach Michael Di Venuto, bowling coach Daniel Vettori, and coach Andrew McDonald are on an off-season during the India Test series, but joining them is additional assistant coach Brad Hodge, the former Australian.