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'A bit more stressful' - Josh Inglis' up-and-down day as Australia captain

Josh Inglis gives the team talk on captaincy debut Getty Images

At the end of an emotionally draining day that mixed personal satisfaction with helming a lacklustre Australia performance, Josh Inglis appeared relatively relaxed as he fronted the press for the first time as national captain.

Somewhat reticent in his media interactions in domestic cricket, Inglis seemed comfortable in the bright lights as he reflected on a whirlwind day which started with his selection as the reserve batter in Australia's first Test squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy before finishing with an eight-wicket hammering in the series-decider against Pakistan at Optus Stadium.

"A bit more stressful than just carrying the gloves. But it was a really, really cool experience," he told reporters after the match.

Inglis has been around for some time as a dynamic wicketkeeper-batter for Western Australia and Perth Scorchers in the BBL. He has in recent times established himself as Australia's first-choice keeper in white-ball cricket. While he's a World Cup champion, having helped Australia win the 50-over showpiece 12 months ago in India, Inglis has felt like he's only really started to gain widespread national prominence this season.

After a stunning start to the Sheffield Shield season, where he carved out match-turning rapid tons in consecutive matches, Inglis was bandied around - most notably by highly-regarded New South Wales coach Greg Shipperd - as a potential solution to Australia's search for David Warner's replacement at the Test level.

While that left-field option was quickly hosed down, Inglis' standing within Australia's hierarchy was confirmed when he was selected to replace Pat Cummins as skipper for the third ODI and also fill the shoes of Mitchell Marsh in the subsequent three-match T20I series.

Given his heavy workload with the gloves, Inglis has never taken the reins of Western Australia or Scorchers. With the ODI series coming down to the finale in Perth, there was excitement over Inglis being able to showcase his highly-regarded leadership capabilities and tactical nous.

Hours before the match even began, Inglis was in the headlines after being somewhat surprisingly named in Australia's 13-man first Test squad as selectors rewarded his rich vein of form and versatility.

"I was thinking this week about the captaincy and not thinking too far ahead with the Test stuff," Inglis said. "But I was really excited when Ronnie [coach Andrew McDonald] called me and let me know.

"I'm just pumped to be there. Really enjoying my red-ball cricket this year. I feel like I'm playing well in that form of the game."

Inglis had the tough task of putting his emotions aside as he tried to galvanise a shorthanded Australia team missing their Test stars with the series on the line against Pakistan.

The ODI series has been mostly viewed as an entrée to the blockbuster Test summer. But traffic near Optus Stadium was at a standstill before the match, although in an anti-climax it turned out motorists were heading to a 4WD car exhibition and not the cricket.

Still a crowd of almost 20,000 fans were at the ground and mostly filled with partisan West Australians proud of their local hero leading Australia onto Optus Stadium.

But Inglis lost the toss and it was downhill from there for Australia, whose struggles against Pakistan's four-pronged attack continued on a fast and bouncy surface. Coming in at 36 for 2, Inglis hoped to perform the type of rescue job he has done many times for Scorchers, but he couldn't get going and on 7 skied a short Naseem Shah delivery to Mohammad Rizwan.

No Australia batter managed a half-century in the series with Inglis - along with Steven Smith - looking the most fluent in the opening couple of games but failed to convert.

"They've got four very good quick bowlers, and I thought they put pressure on our batters throughout and made it really tough," Inglis said. "I guess everyone's got to look individually and find ways to get better and keep improving."

Defending just 140, Inglis' first foray into captaining the national team in the field was a tough initiation and he was under the microscope immediately after opting to hand allrounder Marcus Stoinis the new ball alongside Spencer Johnson.

He held back speedster Lance Morris, his WA and Scorchers team-mate, until the 15th over. Morris, who often does not bowl with the new ball in white-ball domestic cricket, claimed Australia's only two wickets when he dismissed openers Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique in the 18th over.

"We thought Stoiny... just swinging the ball early and the extra protection for Lance coming back [from injury], he hasn't played much cricket," Inglis said. "But I thought he bowled beautifully today, bowled at good pace and did a bit with the ball too."

Among his new duties, Inglis also had to contend with the shot clock between overs. Under relatively new ICC regulations, a penalty of five runs is imposed on the bowling side if they fail three times in an innings to start the new over within a minute.

"Obviously me being a keeper, it's pretty difficult to be able to have a conversation with the bowler then get to my mark," Inglis said. "And if we've got to make adjustments for the field, [be able to] do that [within a minute]. So I got two warnings pretty early.

"We just had to be a bit sharper with that. And I guess I'll get quicker as I go along."

Even though he has been selected in the Test squad, Inglis will lead Australia in the T20I series against Pakistan starting on November 14 as he builds on a day he will never forget.

"It's a totally different format and you don't want this sort of disappointing feeling to linger," Inglis said. "So we'll debrief, we'll talk about the game and where we can improve.

"We just have to brush ourselves down and come back again."