India vs Australia | Matthew Wade says he feels like a debutant

The left-handed batsman was dropped from Australia’s Test and T20 sides on the eve of the Ashes. He then scored a huge amount of runs in the 2018-19 season for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes, and as a result, he made his way back into Australia’s squad for the 2019 Ashes, in which he played all five Tests and scored two centuries.

“Yes, I’m 32, and I’ve been around a long time, but I see myself as a completely different player. Matthew Wade, the guy that played as wicketkeeper-batter, is a completely different player than the one that’s been playing the last three years. I almost feel like I restarted my career a couple of years ago, debuting at 30,” cricket.com.au quoted Wade as saying.

“No different to guys like ‘Hadds’ and Mike Hussey, those kinds of guys. Age is always spoken about when you get to my age and that’s the nature of the beast. Every game I play for Australia is one that I didn’t think I’d get and whether that’s my last game or whether I’ll play another 50, that doesn’t faze me too much, to be honest,” he added.

Talking about leading Australia in the second T20I against India, Wade replied: “If you had have told me then (he would captain Australia), I certainly wouldn’t have believed you, but this game moves fast and sometimes things happen that are quite unexpected and that’s exactly what’s happened in this scenario.”

“There’s plenty of guys that could have done it on the ground at the time which made it a lot easier for me. But yeah, I’m really proud and honoured to captain my country,” he added.