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After Australia’s loss to India on Sunday night, the side will need to make some changes ahead of Wednesday’s match against Pakistan.
Opener David Warner batted far too slowly, which meant that the rest of the batsman were playing catch-up for the rest of the innings, then hoping that Glenn Maxwell could pull off a miracle in the last ten overs.
Warner should retain his spot in the team but pushed down the order so that he’s forced to be aggressive from ball one.
Marcus Stoinis, on the other hand, needs to be dropped.
Since the start of 2019, Stoinis has averaged 26.1 with the bat at a strike rate of 81.3, while with the ball he’s averaged 44.83 and gone at 6.35 runs.
He has also seemed to lack game awareness recently, batting far too defensively when he should be trying to increase the run rate.
Unfortunately, Australia doesn’t have a reserve all-rounder in the squad. Ashton Turner would’ve been an ideal replacement for Stoinis, but a shoulder injury has prevented him from bowling and has affected his fielding.
If another player picks up an injury during the tournament, the selectors should look to bring in either Dan Christian or Mitch Marsh, so that they’ve got another all-rounder in the squad.
Dropping Stoinis would mean one of Australia’s batsman would have to bowl a few overs, currently the best option is Steve Smith.
As for the batting order, Khawaja should open with Aaron Finch, Smith batting three and Shaun Marsh should come back in at four. Alex Carey should move up to five and Maxwell down to six, with Warner at seven.
For the bowlers, Jason Behrendorff and Nathan Lyon should come in for Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Zampa.
My Australian XI to face Pakistan:
Usman Khawaja
Aaron Finch
Steve Smith
Shaun Marsh
Alex Carey
Glenn Maxwell
David Warner
Pat Cummins
Mitch Starc
Nathan Lyon
Jason Behrendorff
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