3 players who can captain Australia if Pat Cummins gets ruled out of ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Pat Cummins is managing an ankle issue and is in doubt for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

After winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, Australia have immediately been put in a concern as their captain Pat Cummins is in doubt to feature in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Cummins was managing an ankle problem through the series against India, where he sent down 167 overs, the most by any bowler in the series.

Cummins will miss the upcoming two-test series in Sri Lanka due to paternity leave, but could also miss the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 due to his ankle issue. Chair of selectors George Bailey said that the extent of the injury and the recovery timeline will be known by the scans of Cummins’ ankle.

If Cummins is indeed ruled out of the competition whose designated hosts are Pakistan, then Bailey will have to name a new skipper. Cummins led Australia brilliantly in the World Cup 2023, where they made a comeback to clinch the title after losing their first two matches.

Australia have plenty of senior players in their ranks whom they could trust with the captaincy duties.

3 players who can captain Australia if Pat Cummins gets ruled out of ICC Champions Trophy 2025:

Mitchell Marsh

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh is the vice-captain of the ODI team. He is also their T20I captain. While Marsh has been dropped from the test team, he remains a key cog in the top-order in the white-ball sides. He has a vast experience of 93 ODI matches. However, his bowling has been restricted in recent years due to injuries.

Marsh led Australia in nine ODIs in 2023 and 2024 against South Africa and England. Out of these, Australia won four and lost five.

Steve Smith

Steve Smith is the test vice-captain and has led Australia during Cummins’ rein when he’s not available. He will be leading the side in the upcoming two-match test series in Sri Lanka. Australia are set to play a one-off ODI on February 13 before flying to Pakistan.

Though Marsh is the vice-captain in the ODI side, Smith is a strong front-runner to lead Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 if Cummins misses out.

Smith is known to be an astute captain and an inspiring leader; someone who’s hailed for bringing the best out of his players on the field. He has led Australia in 59 matches, winning 31 of them.

In the last couple of years, he’s captained in eight ODIs, of which, Australia won six.

Travis Head

An unlikely candidate for now, but Travis Head could also be in the fray of a leadership role. Head is a key member of the Australian team across the three formats and has been in a thunderous form over the last four years.

In late 2023, Head was named the co-vice-captain in Australia’s test team alongside Smith as Australia prepared themselves for a future transition in the leadership role.

The 2027 World Cup isn’t too far now and Head would certainly be a candidate Australia would look to in the captaincy role should Cummins decide to step down. Giving the taste of captaincy in a competitive and high-pressure tournament like the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to Head would be a great test of his temperament.

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