Josh Inglis maiden T20 ton pours pressure on Alex Carey for Aussie wicketkeeping spot in all three formats as India exact revenge for shock World Cup loss in series opener

Josh Inglis was Australia’s water boy just a few months ago, but he is now putting serious pressure on Alex Carey to replace him at all three levels of cricket after his first T20 international against India overnight.

Inglis’ spectacular 110 off 50 deliveries took Australia to 3-208 in the first T20 against India after Australia’s World Cup heroics.

While his massive blow was overshadowed by India claiming victory on the last ball in a nail-biting two-wicket victory in Visakhapatnam, Inglis’ meteoric rise is fast becoming the biggest story in Australian cricket.

Inglis was sensationally elevated to the ODI wicketkeeper position just one match into the World Cup after Alex Carey was sensationally dropped.

Now Inglis, who used to manage the water, is also putting serious pressure on the T20 position after being picked as a specialist batsman and blasting his maiden century.

Inglis replaced Alex Carey as ODI gloveman during the recent ICC World Cup won by the Australians

With a changing of the guard likely to happen for the Australian team in the coming years, Inglis has positioned himself as a contender to become a wicketkeeper in all three formats.

Carey had held the position since 2018 when he took over the gloves from former skipper Tim Paine. It was the first time a wicketkeeper had been dropped midway through a World Cup.

‘I didn’t really see it coming. So that was fun. I’m just really excited to get a game right now,” Inglis said at the time.

‘I can’t take that for granted. Professional cricket is tough and international cricket is even tougher. That doesn’t mean I’ve cracked it now. I still have to put performances on the board because Kez (Carey) is a very good player.’

Matthew Wade is the current wicketkeeper and captain of the T20 side and is likely to lead the team until the next World Cup, but Inglis has put himself firmly in the race with Carey to replace him.

Carey will remain Australia’s Test wicketkeeper for the coming summer of cricket, but Inglis’ prodigious talent will certainly put pressure on him for that spot too.

“It’s nice to take the monkey off the back end,” Inglis told reporters at the post-match press conference.

‘Of course a disappointing result. At the end of the day, we come here and we want to win, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that tonight.”

Carey is on shaky ground in limited-overs cricket after losing his place in the ODI side, while Inglis is now also pressing at T20 level

Inglish was excellent in the ICC World Cup and retained his place in the team until the final against India, which was won by the Aussies.

However, Inglis’ milestone was overshadowed by India’s heroics, with the hosts still fearful of losing the World Cup final to Australia after previously going through the tournament undefeated.

In the space of three deliveries, with two runs needed, Abbott caught and bowled Axar Patel (2) before Ravi Bishnoi and Hardeep Singh were both run out for ducks, sacrificed to get Rinku on strike.

With one more run needed, Rinku threw the sixth delivery over the long hurdle, although his spectacular finish was not rewarded on the scoreboard as Abbott was called for a match-losing no-ball.

India’s chase had started poorly, with Ruturaj Gaikwad running out without the ball after a terrible mix-up and opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (21) tamely nudging Matt Short to Steve Smith midway through the match.

Suryakumar, who had a scrappy World Cup campaign with 106 runs at 17.66, was back in his favorite format and showed why he is the world’s No. 1 T20 batsman on his international captaincy debut.

Along with Ishan Kishan (58), who spent most of the World Cup on the bench, he added 112 for the third wicket to take India under control.