Steve Smith to captain Australia in ODI series against India as Pat Cummins stays home

Steve Smith will continue to captain Australia in the ODI leg against India. Head coach Andrew McDonald has confirmed that Pat Cummins has opted to stay home following the demise of his mother.

Smith has captained Australia in 51 ODIs and has ushered them to 25 wins and endured 23 losses.

Cummins returned home after the second Test against India in Delhi to attend to his mother, who entered palliative care, forcing Smith to take charge for the final two matches. The pacer's mother passed away before Day 2 of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad and all the Aussie players wore black armbands to mark her death.

Ahead of the first ODI in Mumbai on Friday, McDonald stated that their thoughts are with Cummins and his family throughout the grieving process.

With the 2023 World Cup set to take place in India, he highlighted that Australia have a few decisions to make around their combinations. This has become especially important due to the influx of all-rounders in their squad.

As quoted by cricket.com.au, McDonald said:

"Pat won’t be coming back, he’s still taking care of what’s happened back home. Our thoughts are with Pat and his family as they go through that grieving process.

"We've got a couple conversations around the balance of the team we want to play, we've gone in with a structure with eight batters to bat a little bit deeper, we've tried that.

"So there'll be a mix of combinations as we lead into the World Cup. There are a lot of allrounders picked in the squad and can they all play in the one team. So we've got to answer a few of those questions."

Pat Cummins succeeded Aaron Finch as the one-day captain last year and started his tenure with a 3-0 sweep over England.

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Australia's ODI squad to face India

Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.