Why Aussie vice-captain was dropped for India series opener

Shelley Nitschke has described the call to drop vice-captain Tahlia McGrath from Australia's T20I side as "a really tough one" but has backed the allrounder to fight her way back in.

Just last month, McGrath was one of three candidates interviewed for the Australian captaincy, but on Sunday she was left out of the XI to play India at the SCG – the first time she has been omitted since her international recall in late 2021.

Speaking to reporters after Australia's 21-run (DLS) defeat saw them go 0-1 down in the T20I series, Nitschke revealed the thinking behind the decision to leave McGrath on the sidelines in favour of in-form allrounder Nicola Carey, who returned to the T20I team for the first time since December 2022.

"Tahlia has been a massive part of this team for a long time, and obviously has captained in (Alyssa) Healy's absence at times, and is a fantastic leader," Nitschke said.

"It's actually a really tough call, because her international T20 record is actually really good, and she's done a good job for us over a number of years, and unfortunately, she's got squeezed out.

"To leave her out was a tough call. But like I said, Nic Carey has been playing really well, so that was a really tough call on 'T-Mac'."

McGrath was dominant in the Australian top-order across all formats but particularly in T20Is following that international recall in 2021, and in 2023 was named the country's T20I Player of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards.

From 56 T20Is she averages 42.14 with a strike rate of 132.94 and remains ranked No.4 on the ICC's T20 batting charts.

However, a difficult run at No.4 during the T20 World Cup in 2024 saw her pushed down to 6-7 for the six T20Is Australia played in early 2025, and to McGrath's credit, she largely seized her chances, hitting 26 off nine and 48no from 35 against England, and 14no from 5 against New Zealand.

Australia have not played a 20-over game since last March, however, and across the subsequent 11 months McGrath endured a lean run in ODIs, scoring 85 runs at 14.16 and striking at 83 – while taking three wickets at 53 – followed by a disappointing WBBL|11 where she hit 98 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 91 alongside five wickets.

Speaking to reporters in December, McGrath admitted it had been the toughest period of her career, leaving her low on confidence.

After electing to sit out the Women's Premier League auction in favour of playing domestic 50-over matches for South Australia across January and early February, the allrounder has started to rediscover her form, hitting 47, 58 and 43no in recent games.

"I think she's showed her form in the WNCL, she's starting to play some really good cricket again … so that's been great for her confidence," Nitschke said.

"She's feeling really good about her game, so I certainly think she'll be back to her best soon.

"And I think just touching base and making sure that she knows that we care about her, we want to see her back … and just keeping encouraging her that if she can get back to her best, she's always pushing for a spot."

Nitschke also backed McGrath to be able to fill a variety of roles throughout the order if required, should a place in her preferred top four does not become available.

"I feel like she's actually quite adaptable, especially when she's on top of her game, she can probably play a lot of roles," Nitschke said.

"I don't think there's any sort of set role for her that we're looking at, she's played up the order and done really well. More recently, she's come down the order and closed the innings really well."

NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series

India lead the multi-format series 2-0

Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil

February 15: India won by 21 runs (DLS)

February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT

February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol

February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT

February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare

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