Corona's shadow on Ashes series, new captain Pat Cummins expelled just before second test
Now the shadow of Corona has started hovering over the Ashes series being played between Australia and England. Just before the Adelaide Test, the new captain of the Australia team, Pat Cummins has been dropped. Steve Smith will take over in his place.
Sunil Shukla 
Now the shadow of Corona has started hovering over the Ashes series being played between Australia and England. The second match of the 5- Test series between the two teams is to be held from Thursday (December 16). Just before this, the new captain of the Australia team, Pat Cummins has been dropped. Steve Smith will now take over in his place. While Travis Head was made the vice-captain. At present, Australia is leading 1-0 in the series.
Actually, a day before the match i.e. on Wednesday evening, Pat Cummins went to a restaurant in Adelaide to have dinner. During this time he came in contact with a corona infected. In such a situation, according to the South Australian protocol, now Pat Cummins will have to stay in strict quarantine for 7 days. Due to this, he was dropped from the second Test.
Cummins didn't break protocol
Along with this, the Australian Cricket Board has also informed that Pat Cummins has not broken any corona protocol. Now it is expected that he will be able to play in the third ie Boxing Day Test. This third match will be played in Melbourne. Now Michael Neser has been given a chance in the team instead of Pat Cummins. This will be his debut Test.
Captain for the first time since ball-tampering
Steve Smith will be seen captaining the Australian team for the first time after the ball-tampering controversy. Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were banned for ball-tampering during the South Africa tour in 2018. Smith was the captain of the team then. After that, now he will be seen taking command of the team for the first time.
The teams are as follows-
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head (VC), Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jay Richardson.
England (12): Joe Root (c), Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, David Malan, Olly Pope, Olly Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.
