In-form Gardner eyes elevation to Aussie top four

Allrounder Ashleigh Gardner is hoping she can capitalise on a rare opening in Australia's T20 batting order and make the shift into the top four.

Gardner posted her maiden Test half-century against India on the Gold Coast, and with three T20s to round out the series, the right-hander looks well placed to carry on her good form in a format well suited to her game.

And with Rachael Haynes absent (parental leave), Gardner might find herself elevated back up the order where she spent much of the initial period of her T20I career.

"That top order has been pretty flexible over the past 12-18 months, and we really like to utilise the left- and right-hand combos," Gardner said today.

"Now with Rach missing, there's a few more right-handers in that top six now, which I don't think is a bad thing – obviously me being right-handed hopefully pushes me up the order.

"I'm pretty clear on what my role is in T20 cricket and it does go back to that attacking brand that I like to play, and it's a strength of mine, so (I won't be) shying away from what my strengths are.

"With Rachael's experience, she's a big loss for us – she accesses different areas and she obviously plays a very different game to what I do, so (I'll be) just having that in the back of my mind that potentially I will bat four, but wherever the team needs me, I'll just slot in."

The 24-year-old has established herself as a T20 match-winner for the national side in recent times; of the five completed matches Australia have played since their historic World Cup success in March 2020, Gardner has been player of the match in three.

And her success has been built off an improved ability to mix her impressive power game with a greater match awareness.

"I guess that comes with age and experience," Gardner said. "I know when I first started playing for Australia, and even state cricket, I was known as the hitter, and the person who just came out and took the game on.

"There's still glimpses of that within my game but I've changed it since then – there's probably a little bit more pressure on me in the state sides to stay out there and score runs, and I guess that's kind of transferred over into this team as well, knowing that we didn't have Rach Haynes for the Test match and we won't have her for the T20s either.

"So I think (it's about) just being a little bit more mature in my decisions and my shot selections."

The other player who might benefit from Haynes' absence is back-up wicketkeeper-batter Georgia Redmayne, who received her maiden call-up to an Australia squad following a superb season with Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat.

Redmayne opened the batting for the Heat in WBBL|06 and will likely factor into selection discussions as another left-handed batting option for the Australians, with Beth Mooney the only other leftie among the likely top six.

"Georgia's obviously earnt her spot to come into this Australia side," Gardner said. "She's had some really good Big Bashes, and she's played some really good cricket for Queensland as well.

"A lot of our top four like to go down the ground whereas she accesses behind the wicket a lot, so that's completely different to what myself, (Alyssa Healy and Mooney) do."

CommBank Series v India

Australia lead India 6-4 on points

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India Test and ODI squad: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

First ODI:Australia won by nine wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by five wickets

Third ODI: India won by two wickets

One-off Test: Match drawn

Oct 7: First T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 9: Second T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Oct 10: Third T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast