Who will be Australia’s next ODI captain?

After Aaron Finch retirement from ODI, the next question is who will be Australia’s next ODI captain?’ career after wearing the famous colours of Australia 145 times in ODI format. A former World Cup winner Finch was one of the best players of the current Australian crop, having mustered 17 tons during his spell, more than Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.

But his retirement has now  put Cricket Australia (CA) to decide on who will be the heir to Finch as a string of names come into contention. Test captain Pat Cummins and former captain Steve Smith are in running for the vacant job as it remains to be seen who gets the nod.

1. Steve Smith

As a former skipper of the side, Steve Smith has all the necessary elements on his CV to regain the captaincy nod. However, his controversial ball-tampering act in the Cape Town Test of 2018, famously known as the ‘Sandpaper Gate’ might come back to haunt him.

Smith and David Warner were both suspended after the incident in 2018, with the former stripped of the captaincy. However, with experience on his side and being an important member of the T20 World Cup squad in 2021 and Ashes-winning side, Smith will again be in contention. In December 2021, he returned to captain Australia after Pat Cummins was unavailable due to Covid-19 isolation in Ashes Test.

2. Pat Cummins

As skipper of the Test side, Pat Cummins is already in contention to take over the ODI side. With a frequent presence in the team and experience in tons, Cummins could benefit from his healthy relations with the selectors.

But workload could be a problem as the selectors might also think not to overload Cummins in the ODI format which could affect his game, especially with the ODI World Cup taking place in 2023.

3. David Warner

The other link of ‘Sandpaper Gate,’ David Warner will also come into contention as being one of the consistent players on the side in all formats. After the 2018 controversy, he has rejuvenated his career with free-flowing cricket that has seen him add multiple honours to his trophy cabinet.

Warner won the T20 World Cup in 2021 along with the Ashes and is currently the most successful active player for Australia having notched 43 international hundreds, with 24 coming in the ODI format.

Some of the other names in contention include Mitchell Marsh and Adam Zampa as they too are a consistent feature on the Aussie side. Zak Crawley is another player that can be a difference-maker after working as deputy to Finch in the past. He captained the Aussie side last in an ODI match as well in Finch’s absence.