I am not thinking about selection for India tour: Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade has not been having a great time on the field in the last three months. He averages below 30 across the two formats except Tests. His last decent ODI score was 52 against South Africa, in October. But the 1st ODI against Pakistan turned out to be the one for him as Wade scored his maiden ODI hundred today walking into bat while his team was struggling at 5 for 78 on a challenging Gabba surface.

He played a heroic knock and laid the platform for the innings with Glenn Maxwell and then got to the triple figures on the last ball of the innings. On the back of his hundred, Australia posted 268 and won the match by 92 runs. After the conclusion of the match, Wade who was awarded the Man of the Match said, “I feel I’ve been hitting the ball really well for a period of time now,”

“I certainly haven’t been going out there and just nicking off, I’ve been getting myself out more times than not. There’s been plenty of work and (I’ve been) working on a few things and it’s (about giving yourself) time in the middle, giving yourself a chance and I did that today which was nice.” Wade said.

With all the batsmen except Travis Head failing to deliver, Maxwell and the wicketkeeper-batsman took upon themselves the role of changing the innings with a partnership of 82 runs and making way for Australia’s victory. Maxwell had returned to International cricket after a span more than four months and did not fail to impress with his 60 runs.

Also read- Australia v Pakistan 1st ODI – Statistical Highlights

Wade had a few things to say about his match winning partnership with Maxwell, “Batting with Maxi is always great, you don’t have to do too much. You can just try to keep it in the gap and get down the other end and watch the show go. That was the plan when I was there with him, we were trying to build a partnership and take it as deep as we could. Whenever you bat with Max, the scoreboard is always ticking so it makes it a lot easier on me, I can just get down the other end. He batted really well tonight.”

With this kind of performance, they will most definitely be considered for selection in the Test series against India that is set to start in February. Wade emphasized that he was not worried about the selection that has to happen for the series before that.

“I’m not nervous about selection, I’d be nervous if we lost four Test matches in a row but we’re winning games,” he said. “The team’s going really well, the younger guys are playing well and I feel like we’re in a really good spot. So nah, the team will get picked and hopefully I’m in it but I don’t feel nervous when the team’s winning the way it is.” he concluded.