As India head to Australia next month to look for a third straight Test series win away from home, the opening slot for Australia has been a widely discussed topic.
While India seem to have found a stable opening partnership in captain Rohit Sharma and the impressive Yashasvi Jaiswal, their Aussie counterparts still seem to be working it out. Former captain Steve Smith was recently promoted as an opener following the retirement of David Warner earlier this year. But, India’s recent tormentor Travis Head, too, seems to be in contention—Usman Khawaja, the settled opener at the moment, name-dropped Head in a recent interview.
Surprisingly, however, Warner recently said that he had reached out to coach Andrew McDonald, offering to come out of retirement to help Australia in the blockbuster series.
However, Australian captain Pat Cummins, recently on The Grade Cricketer podcast, closed that door in a hurry. Asked to look into the camera and send a message to Warner directly, the World Cup-winning captain cheekily told his former teammate that he was “very interested and taking it seriously”, but then added that he had had a conversation with Warner on the topic and had told the veteran: “Good luck with [Sydney] Thunder this year, mate. I look forward to your comments on Fox [Sports].”
Interestingly, Cricket Australia has lifted the lifetime ban on Warner as captain—a fallout of the infamous sandpaper incident in South Africa in 2018—which means he is eligible to captain Sydney Thunder in the next Big Bash League season.
Meanwhile, Smith recently said that he was “not fixated” on the opening spot and had asked McDonald to move him down the order. This was even before all-rounder Cameron Green’s lower back injury, which would have compelled Smith to return to the middle order.
Candidates such as Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas and Matthew Renshaw also seem to be in the fray for the opener’s slot.