3 minute read

Marnus Labuschagne is likely to make his ODI debut for Australia in January's series in India while Usman Khawaja was among the players to be dropped.

Usman Khawaja faces a fight to resurrect his international career after being among three big casualties for Australia's three-match ODI tour of India in January.

Glenn Maxwell, Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis were all axed from the 14-man squad, with Marnus Labuschagne named for a potential ODI debut.

Khawaja's stocks have drastically dropped over the past six months and time isn't on his side given he turns 33 on Wednesday.

The veteran batsman was dropped from the Test side midway through the Ashes after averaging just 17.25 from four knocks.

And his ODI omission means he is now well and truly on the outer.

Shaun Marsh and Nathan Lyon are also missing from the squad that toured England earlier this year, while Nathan Coulter-Nile has been dropped and Jason Behrendorff is injured.

In their places are Sean Abbott, who hasn't played an ODI since 2014, Josh Hazlewood, Ashton Agar, Ashton Turner and Labuschagne.

Notably, all of Australia's front-line quicks will feature in the series after Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Hazlewood were named.

Maxwell took time away from cricket recently to focus on his mental health, but will make his return via the BBL.

Australia coach Justin Langer is backing Maxwell to get back to his best after some indifferent form over the past year.

"We love having him in the team, we love his energy, we love his talent, we love what he can bring," Langer said.

"But the truth is he hasn't performed very well over the past 12 months or so for the Australian cricket team.

"We had to take that into account and he hadn't played much competitive cricket either.

"He had a brilliant series in the UAE against Pakistan, but the World Cup and some series before that hasn't been his best. We're sure he'll get back to his best and we're looking forward to that."

Labuschagne earned his way into the squad following some strong one-day form for Queensland and even hotter form in the Test arena.

The 25-year-old has struck 185, 162, 143 and 50 in his past four Test innings, and Langer is looking forward to seeing what Labuschagne can do in the ODI arena.

"He deserves it," Langer said of Labuschagne's selection.

"We've got one eye to the T20 World Cup and we've also talked about being really role specific and looking for guys who can finish.

"Marnus is a very good player of spin bowling. He's a good fielder, he bowls leg-spin, he gives us some good options and he's in the form of his life."

Assistant Andrew McDonald will coach the side for the series after Langer decided to take a rest after almost 18 months on the road.

Australia's ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa.