Australia appoint Pat Cummins as ODI captain after Aaron Finch's retirement from 50-over format

Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins has been appointed as the ODI skipper of the team after former captain Aaron Finch's retirement from the fifty-over format. Cummins has been one of Australia's best performers across formats and is seen as a terrific leader having already proved his mettle in the longest format.

The senior pacer had replaced Tim Paine as the captain of the Australian Test team last year and impressed in his first year as the leader of the red-ball side. He has now become Australia's 27th ODI captain and the first-everfast bowler to lead the team in their history.

Cricket Australia on Tuesday confirmed Cummins' appointment as the ODI captain and said the fast bowler will lead the team in the ODI World Cup in India next year. "Pat has done an excellent job since taking on the captaincy of the Test side and we look forward to him leading the one-day team to the 2023 World Cup in India," said Australia's selection chief George Bailey.

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Former captain Steve Smith and David Warner among others were also in the fray to take over as the next ODI skipper after Finch's retirement, however, Cummins was a favourite after his great work with the Test side. Finch, who has retired from ODIs, continues to lead Australia in T20Is.

He is captaining the defending champions in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 and will be hoping to inspire them to a second successive title triumph at home this year. Australia will start the tournament as one of the title favourites when they lock horns with New Zealand in their opening game on October 22.

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Cricket Australia has not named a deputy to Cummins in ODIs despite the fast bowler recently stating that he would love to captain the team in the fifty-over format but on the condition that he is not expected to play every single game. The pacer said it was unrealistic to expect players playing all three formats to take part in every single game for the national team.

"You’d probably need to look at it a little bit differently to perhaps in the past with so much cricket going on, if I was offered it," Cummins had said ahead of Cricket Australia's announcement of the next ODI captain.

"Just playing every single game isn't realistic. We've got a handful of guys that play all three formats. In a year like this, T20 becomes the focus leading to a World Cup. Next year might be different with the one-day World Cup. But with 15 Test matches in the next six months, I don't think you can expect the captain to play every game just because he is the captain," he added.