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IND v AUS 2020: 'A total dream' - Matthew Wade on being named Australian captain for 2nd T20I 

Australian ODI Nets Session
Australian ODI Nets Session

Australia's stand-in captain Matthew Wade labelled being able to lead his country in the 2nd T20I against India as a 'total dream'.

The wicket-keeper was named as the vice-captain for the 1st T20I, which saw regular white-ball captain Aaron Finch suffer a glute strain. Finch had earlier claimed that he wasn't optimistic of recovering ahead of this game, and like he said, he hasn't made the cut.

Steve Smith was another option that Australia had at their disposal, but the former skipper hasn't led the team since the infamous ball tampering scandal.

Speaking at the toss for the 2nd T20I, Matthew Wade said:

"It's a total dream. Everyone's fallen over so someone had to stand up. Hazlewood is out, he's a little bit sore after back-to-back games. We're giving him a bit of a rest. We've got Sams, Tye and Stoinis coming in."

Matthew Wade to captain injury-hit Australia in 2nd T20I

Australia v India - T20 Game 1
Australia v India - T20 Game 1

Apart from Finch, Australia will miss the services of Ashton Agar and David Warner. Both southpaws have been ruled out of the T20I series, and the latter faces a race against time to be fit for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Matthew Wade, who leads the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League, will aim to take Australia to a decider in the 3-match T20I series. However, he hasn't been in great form in T20I cricket with scores of 7, 14, 10 and 1 in his last 4 games in the format.

Here are the playing XIs for the 2nd India-Australia T20I:

India’s playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur

Australia’s playing XI: D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (c, wk), Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Sean Abbott, Daniel Sams, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa


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