Warne selects his Australia T20 XI

With a win and a loss to Australia’s name after their first two matches of the World T20 and a few question marks still lingering over the make-up of their best side, Shane Warne has weighed in to the selection debate.

The legendary leg-spinner has picked his best Australia T20 XI, making one big change to the side that defeated Bangladesh last night, with No.1 ranked T20 batsman Aaron Finch coming in at the expense of allrounder Mitch Marsh.

Warne’s also made a few key alterations to the batting order, with Finch and David Warner returning the opening positions, while Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson have been moved down to No.3 and No.4 respectively.

The other notable modification to the line-up is captain Steve Smith’s shifting to the No.6 spot, behind Glenn Maxwell who keeps his current position at No.5.

Marsh, the current occupant of that position, was economical with the ball and made 24 in Australia’s loss to New Zealand but was one of a number of players who holed out in pursuit of the Kiwis’ modest total of 142.

Against Bangladesh, the 24-year-old conceded 12 runs from his only over, made six with the bat and dropped a catch to cap off a poor night.

Aside from dropping Marsh, Warne has also shaken up Australia’s top-order.

The presence of Warner, Finch, Watson and Khawaja in Australia’s World T20 squad has created plenty of debate around the best way to fit the quartet into the batting line-up, considering all four players are suited to the opening position.

Prior to the Qantas Tour of South Africa, where Australia warmed up for the current tournament with three T20Is, Warner had only batted in a non-opening position three times in all formats of international cricket.

But the powerful left-hander has been moved down to No.4 for Australia’s first two matches of the World T20 and, in order to keep a right-left batting combination in the middle, Warner could also come in at first-drop if the first wicket to fall is fellow leftie Khawaja.

Warner highlighted his versatility with a match-winning 77 from 40 balls in the second T20 of the series against South Africa.

Warne, however, clearly sees him as Australia’s best option at the top of the order alongside Finch, who is also somewhat of a specialist opener, having only ever batted in the middle order in his first two T20Is in 2011.

Khawaja has partnered Watson opening the batting in Australia’s two World T20 matches so far and has top-scored in both games. With him looking like the most dependable batsmen in Australia’s team, it may be a risk to move Khawaja from the opening position.

Warne’s demotion of Watson to No.4 is a tough call on a player whose T20I record shows that he thrives against the new ball but struggles coming in during the middle overs.

When opening the batting, Watson has an excellent strike-rate of 150.83 and averages 33.48 but those numbers change to 118.75 (strike-rate) and 15.20 (average) when coming in elsewhere, making it unlikely that Australia’s selectors will want him to move down the order.

Warne is no stranger to armchair selection: he’s picked his best Australia Test and ODI XIs, as well as best Xis from England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa in recent times.