IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: Why Is Steve Smith Captaining Australia In Indore?

IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: While everyone was expecting Pat Cummins to turn up for the toss at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, to everyone's surprise it was Steven Smith who was standing along with KL Rahul.

Steven Smith of Australia plays a shot during game one of the One Day International series between India and Australia at Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium on September 22, 2023 in Mohali, India.

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IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: India are taking on Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday (September 24). Coming into this match, India had defeated the Kangaroos in the series opener on Friday (September 22) and with a short around between the two games with a travel day also in between, both the teams have made changes to their Playing XIs for this match. 

While India had already decided to rest some of their senior players including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli among others, Austalia had the services of their regular skipper Pat Cummins for all the three matches which is why it was expected Cummins will be playing this game.

However, heading into the World Cup and in a bid to avoid unncessary injuries ahead of the global event, while India have rested Jasprit Bumrah bringing in Prasid Krishna in place of him, Australia have made sure to give game time to Spencer Johnson who makes his debut with Josh Hazlewood and Alex Carey all coming back into the side, leaving out Cummins who is expected to be back at the helm of affairs in the final ODI match of these two teams before the World Cup beginning on October 5. In Cummins absence, Smith, who is his deputy, is leading Australia.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia itself on October 8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Prior to that though, they have a couple of warm-up games with one each in Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram.

IND vs AUS 2nd ODI Playing XIs:

India: Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (captain and wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Kirshna

Australia: David Warner, Matt Short, Steven Smith (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Cameron Green, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Spencer Johnson