Australia have left out Steve Smith, yet to recover from a bout of vertigo, for their 2023 World Cup match against Afghanistan.
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“[Steve] Smith was struggling a bit and misses out,” explained Australian captain Pat Cummins when he named the team changes at the toss at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Smith had played all seven of Australia’s matches, making 205 runs at 29.28 with a fifty, below his usual standards, but he had shown signs of form, with scores of 71, 18, and 44 in his last three innings.
A day before the match against Afghanistan, Smith had revealed he was suffering from vertigo to the media. “I’ve had a bit of vertigo stuff the last day or so, so it’s just been a bit annoying. So, hopefully I can get through training today and be all good. But, yeah, it’s not a nice place to be,” Smith said at the pre-match press conference.
This is not the first time Smith has suffered from vertigo. “I’ve had a few episodes, so I can tell you it’s not the funnest space to be in,” he said. “But yeah, I’ll go out and have a hit and hopefully be okay and we’ll see how we go.”
Apart from Smith, Australia also left out Cam Green, whom they had drafted in when Glenn Maxwell was injured and Mitchell Marsh had to leave India for personal reasons for a spell. Maxwell and Marsh are both back in the XI.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, have retained their four-spinner attack, though they have replaced Fazalhaq Farooqi with Naveen-ul-Haq. They won the toss and opted to bat.
Australia XI: Pat Cummins (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
Afghanistan XI: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq.
