Inglis amped for Test call-up, but T20s await first

November 10

Josh Inglis says he’s pumped to be in the Test squad, but it’s T20 success against Pakistan that’s first on his agenda.

Inglis’s debut as captain of the national side got off to a rocky start on Sunday when Australia crashed to an eight-wicket ODI loss to Pakistan in Perth.

Australia were skittled for 140 in 31.5 overs, with Pakistan chasing down the victory target with a whopping 139 balls to spare.

It marked Pakistan’s first ODI series win in Australia since 2002, and gave the tourists a huge confidence boost ahead of the three-match T20 series starting on Thursday at the Gabba.

Inglis was on a high before a ball was even bowled in Sunday’s match after being named as part of Australia’s 13-man squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against India.

Although Alex Carey will start the series as the first-choice wicketkeeper and Nathan McSweeney is set to be handed the opener’s slot, Inglis’s inclusion as a back-up wicketkeeper or batter shows how close he is to a call-up.

“I’m just pumped to be there to be honest,” Inglis said.

“I’m really enjoying my red-ball cricket this year. I feel like I’m playing well in that form of the game, so really excited for that Test series coming up.

“Alex is playing really well at minute and I guess we’ll just see what the selectors come up with in the next week or so.”

Australia’s Test stars are already in red-ball mode ahead of the first Test in Perth, but Inglis will captain the T20 team for the three-match series against Pakistan before linking up with the Test squad.Inglis wants to help Australia rebound from their ODI series flop.

“It’s a totally different format and you don’t want this sort of disappointing feeling to linger,” Inglis said.

“So we’ll debrief, we’ll talk about the game where we can improve.

“I think everyone will probably have a look at how they went about it and see if they need to make any changes.

“But again, it’s a bit of a new group. So we’ve just got to brush ourselves down and come back again.”

Rising star Cooper Connolly will miss the T20 series after fracturing his left hand while batting against Pakistan on Sunday.

Australia struggled with the bat throughout the ODI series, and their aggressive approach has been roundly criticised.

Inglis defended the team’s tactics.

“I think the way we’ve played our one-day cricket over the last few years is really attack those first 10 overs, and we found that it puts a lot of pressure on the (opposition) bowlers,” Inglis said.

“And then it makes it easier for the guys in the middle to sort of build those partnerships.

“But I think when you lose too many wickets early, it’s quite hard to be able to put pressure back onto the bowlers and really explode at that back end.

“When you’re six wickets down after 20-odd overs, it’s really tough to do that.”

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