IND vs AUS: Why Warner, Carey Are Not Playing 1st ODI in Mumbai?


image-lfc95i2gWarner with Mitchell Starc in nets before Mumbai ODI (AP Photo)

Australia's stand-in captain, Steve Smith, sounded confident about his team's lineup, despite the coin flip going against them. At the toss, the Aussie captain talked about the composition, where he mentioned the veteran David Warner and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey missing out.

The 36-year-old Warner, who got injured during the course of the Delhi Test, returned back for the ODI fold, but he has been left out of the playing party.

Captain Smith hinted that the veteran opener is not feeling fully fit, thus they are trying new faces instead of the widely experienced players.

Cricket Australia has stated that the southpaw will be playing the second and third ODI of this series.

Apart from Warner, the other notable absentee is the keeper-batter Carey, who has flying back home due to sickness. However, the state of the keeper's fitness is still to be defined by Cricket Australia. 

The visitors are playing Josh Inglis as a like-to-like replacement for Carey, but the Perth Scorchers star will be batting in the middle-order, despite him being a top-order batter. 

Meanwhile, Mitchell Marsh will be opening the innings alongside Travis Head. Having said that, Marsh is available as a pure batter for this series as he is still going through his rehabilitation.

 "I am playing just as a batter. Maybe a couple of weeks away from bowling. I am doing well with my ankle rehabilitation. Hopefully, I get fit to bowl some weeks afterwards somewhere in the middle of IPL," the all-rounder said in a pre match interview to the broadcaster. 

Australia will be batting first at Mumbai and they would love to start off the ODI leg positively. As far as the Indian dugout is considered, the hosts have gone with a settled XI with two spinners, two seamers and a pace-bowling all-rounder in the form of Shardul Thakur.