Australia had a disappointing run in their title defence at the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022, as they couldn’t even make it to the semi-final stage. The Aussies were placed in Group 1, where New Zealand and England managed to book their birth in the semis.
While many experts have given their opinions regarding what went wrong for the defending champions, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has reckoned a change in leadership, naming Glenn Maxwell as the ‘logical’ choice to take over as captain.
Ponting said that current Test skipper Pat Cummins shouldn’t be considered in order to manage his workload, and no other player than Maxwell fits in this role as the all-rounder has experience of the Big Bash League (BBL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“He’s obviously done a fair bit in IPL and in BBL. I think that’s probably the logical one. I couldn’t see Pat Cummins wanting to take it on. I was a little bit surprised he took the one-day stuff on, to be honest as well, just with workload and stuff and how many games he potentially misses, so maybe you look to Maxy,” said Ponting, as quoted by Fox Sports.
“I saw Mitchell Marsh last week had taken his name out. He said he wanted to play and not have to worry about it. I think in the current group, it probably would be Maxy,” he added.
Notably, Aaron Finch, who announced his ODI retirement in September, is feeling the heat after Australia’s disastrous campaign in T20 World Cup and might give up the captaincy in the shortest format. Although, Finch said he wouldn’t rush a decision to take a final call.
“There’s not another international T20 until August, so there’s quite a long break. Still, plenty of time to be able to weigh all that up. It’s been a pretty good ride regardless of what happens,” Finch had said, as quoted by Newscomau.
