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1 year ago
50
Josh Inglis was the Australian waterboy just a few short months ago, but he is now putting serious pressure on Alex Carey to replace him at all three levels of cricket after his maiden T20 international against India overnight.
Inglis's spectacular 110 off 50 deliveries lifted Australia to 3-208 in the first T20 against India following Australia's World Cup heroics.
While his huge knock was overshadowed by India claiming victory on the final ball in a nail-biting two-wicket win at Visakhapatnam, Inglis' meteroic rise is fast becoming the biggest narrative in Australian cricket.
Inglis was sensationally elevated to the ODI wicketkeeper position just one match into the World Cup after Alex Carey was sensationally dropped.
Now Inglis, who used to run the water, is putting serious pressure on for the T20 position as well after being picked a specialist batsman and blasting his maiden century.
Inglis was picked for the T20 series as a specialist batsman and blasted his maiden international ton in the format against India
Inglis replaced Alex Carey as ODI gloveman during the recent ICC World Cup which was won by the Australians
With a changing of the guard likely to happen for the Aussie team in the coming years, Inglis has placed himself as a contender to become wicketkeeper across all three formats
Carey had held the position since 2018 when he took over the gloves from former skipper Tim Paine. It was the first time a wicketkeeper had been dropped midway through a World Cup.
'I didn't really see it coming. So that was nice. I'm just really, really pumped to be getting a game at the minute,' Inglis said at the time.
'I can't take that for granted. Professional cricket is tough and international cricket is even harder. So that doesn't mean I've cracked it now. Still got to put performances on the board because Kez (Carey) is a very good player.'
Matthew Wade is the current wicketkeeper and captain of the T20 side and will likely skipper the team until the next World Cup, but Inglis has put himself firmly in the race with Carey to replace him.
Carey will remain Australia's Test wicketkeeper for the summer of cricket ahead, but the prodigious talent of Inglis is sure to put pressure on him for that spot as well.
'It's nice to get the monkey off the back,' Inglis told reporters in the post-match press conference.
'Obviously a disappointing result though. Ultimately we come here and we want to win, and unfortunately we didn't get to do that tonight.'
Carey is on shaky ground in limited overs cricket after losing his spot in the ODI side while Inglis is applying pressure at T20 level now as well
Inglish was outstanding in the ICC World Cup, holding his place in the team all the way until the final against India which was won by the Aussies
Inglis' milestone knock was overshadowed by India's heroics, though, with the host nation still stinging from losing the World Cup final to Australia after going through the tournament undefeated prior to that.
In the space of three deliveries, with two runs required, Abbott caught-and-bowled Axar Patel (2) before Ravi Bishnoi and Hardeep Singh were both run out for ducks, sacrificed to get Rinku on strike.
WIth one run needed, Rinku deposited the sixth delivery over the long-on fence, although his spectacular finish wasn't rewarded on the scoreboard with Abbott getting called for a match-losing no-ball.
India's chase had started poorly, with Ruturaj Gaikwad run out without facing a ball after a horrible mix-up and opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (21) bunting Matt Short tamely to Steve Smith at mid-off.
Suryakumar, who had a ragged World Cup campaign with 106 runs at 17.66, was back in his preferred format and, on his international captaincy debut, showed why he is the No.1 ranked T20 batter in the world.
Together with Ishan Kishan (58), who spent most of the World Cup on the bench, he added 112 for the third wicket to put India in control.
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