Tahlia McGrath set to captain Australia for final match against India

An injury to stand-in skipper Alyssa Healy in India has opened the door for a new Australian captain.

Tahlia McGrath says she was “strangely calm” after being thrust into the captaincy in just her 18th T20 International when Alyssa Healy injured her calf while batting against India and will take that approach when she skippers the team again in the final clash in Mumbai.

Despite conceding she’s “new to leadership” in the Australian team, McGrath has become so well regarded since making her international T20 debut only in 2021 that she was the first choice to replace Healy in the final game on Thursday morning.

The superstar all-rounder, who was crowned the No.1 T20 batter in the world last week, was given a leadership role for the first time on an international tour and now the 27-year-old finds herself in charge of a team including highly experienced teammates Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney.

McGrath said she’d rely on her experience as skipper of the WBBL champion Adelaide Strikers and also draw on the experience of “unofficial vice-captain” Perry for the final clash of a series Australia has already won.

“I’ve come off the back of captaining Strikers for six weeks where it’s high pressure, the best players in the world are there and that’s what it felt like, I was captaining the Strikers with a few extra players,” McGrath said of her maiden experience as Australian skipper.

“I was strangely calm out there, I had a lot of support. (When Indian batter Richa Ghosh was flying) I had to try and stay calm and keep the team calm.

“I’m new to leadership in this team and been learning a lot on the fly and it probably worked in my favour that I didn’t have long to think about it.”

Alyssa Healy injured her calf in Mumbai. Picture: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images

McGrath has only played 18 T20s for Australia, along with 19 ODIs and three tests.

All her T20s have come since her debut in October 2021, and in that time McGrath has also risen to the No.1 ranking among batters in the shortest format of the game.

McGrath earned high praise from teammate Ash Gardner for her performance after taking over form Healy as the Aussies won by seven runs after Perry carved out an unbeaten 72 to guide the visitors to a series-high score of 3-188.

“T-Mac was fantastic in the way that she‘s very cool, calm and collected,” Gardner said.

“It was a pretty big game for her to stand in and she did a fantastic job.

“I know most people would probably recognise that when they see her play, nothing really fazes her and I guess she had faith in all of our abilities, and we know our games pretty well.”

Healy will have scans on her return to Australia to assess her fitness.

The Australians don’t play again until a home series against Pakistan in January before travelling to South Africa for a bid at a third consecutive T20 World Cup title in February.

Originally published as Tahlia McGrath set to captain Australia for final match against India