The Australian men’s cricket team is in India these days and is engaged in a Test battle with the hosts. The Aussies sit at the No. 1 position in Test rankings and came into the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy after having a stunning run under Pat Cummins. However, in stark contrast to their previous performances over the last year and a half, the Baggy Greens were unable to withstand India’s challenge and were defeated in the first two matches. Both Test matches ended inside three days, and with that, Australia’s chances of winning its first Test series in India since 2004 also came to an end.
In the remaining two Tests, the Aussies will look to bounce back and at least save the series or avoid a potential whitewash. But ahead of the third Test, which will start on March 1 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, Australia suffered a big blow on Friday when it was confirmed that their star pacer and skipper Pat Cummins will miss the third Test. The 29-year-old pacer, who travelled back to Australia after the conclusion of the second Test in Delhi last week, won’t be returning for the third match due to personal reasons. In his absence, Steve Smith will lead the side, which will also be without David Warner and Ashton Agar.
During the first two Tests, Cummins, who had enjoyed a great run as Australia’s captain before the start of the India tour, faced a lot of flak for his leadership abilities. And looking at it now, former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy has opined that the pacer should not carry the burden of leadership for too long. He has named two replacements for him but, surprisingly, skipped Steve Smith, who has enjoyed fair success as an Australian skipper.
“I don’t want him to carry the burden of so much captaincy for too long. I want him to finish (as just a bowler),” he told SENQ’s Pat and Heals. “The captaincy creates a burnout, and four to five years is a long time as a captain. He’s done a few years (as Test captain) already, now he’s adding (short-form captaincy) to his thought processes at a time when he’s dealing with some sort of family illness back home.”
“So yeah, I would like to see him finish his career as a tearaway fast bowler and someone else with the captaincy burden.”
Looking at the current set-up, Healy has picked the world’s No. 4 Test batter, Travis Head, and star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell as the likely options to lead Australia in the future.
“I think Travis Head is quite capable. He’s led South Australia since he was a 21-year-old, he’s quite capable and has a lot of experience,” Healy explained. “He’s the main one that stands out to me. The likes of Glenn Maxwell might be able to do parts of it (in the short form), but as far as longer-term captaincy prospects other than Travis Head, I can’t think (of any).”
