David Warner, Australia’s star opener against England, has been benched for the third Twenty20 International and has been replaced in the starting XI by Steve Smith. Warner appeared to have a whiplash injury during the second T20I, but he is anticipated to return for India’s match against England on October 17. In the first T20I, the 35-year-old hit a brilliant 73 off just 44 balls, but in the second match, he was removed for only four runs.
With one game remaining in the three-match series, Australia has already fallen behind England 0-2 and will now make their final preparations for the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Australia is not risking Warner due to the lengthy competition, and Glenn Maxwell has been assigned to start the inning. It’s interesting that Smith has been inserted at number 4 despite Green performing so well and not being selected for the starting lineup. The men in yellow would have preferred to have their strongest playing XI on the field, according to Australian writer Peter Lalor, who also pointed out that Warner’s whiplash injury might prevent him from participating in the third T20I. The injury isn’t terrific, he continued, but he thought Australia could decide against taking a chance on Warner.
“They would’ve hoped I felt to have their full team tonight. My mail is I can reveal exclusively that Warner is unlikely to play. He kind of got whiplash in a fielding incident in the previous game. My mail is he’s not going great, they can always get around on the field if they had to, but I’m not sure they’ll take that risk,” The Australian’ writer Peter Lalor told SEN 1170 Afternoons on Friday. Australia, who won the toss, decided to bowl first. Sam Curran and Chris Jordan have been replaced in England’s starting lineup by Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, respectively.
