India vs Australia | Sean Abbot plays his second ODI 6 years after his debut, marks turnaround

Canberra, December 2: The Wednesday (December 2) will mark another bright chapter in the career of Australia pacer Sean Abbot. The pacer played his first one-day international (ODI) in six years, a definite step towards his full-fledged return to top flight cricket.

Abbot had broken into the scene as a promising pace bowling all-rounder nearly 7 years back but a combination of factors prevented him touching the heights.

Abbot also had to go through the trauma of delivering a fatal ball to Phil Hughes in 2014 in a domestic game, and that would have been weighing on his mind like a millstone, though he was not at fault.

The first hint of Abbot's coming back came in 2019 when he played a T20I against Pakistan in November. Australia won the match by 10 wickets and Abbot grabbed two wickets for 14 runs from four overs. He dismissed Imam-ul-Haq and Imad Wasim as Pakistan were limited to 106 for 8.

Aaron Finch, who made a fifty, and David Warner then guided Aussies to a cosy win. Then he was part of Australia's warm-up matches in Southampton ahead of the white-ball series against England in August and September this year.

Another round high-intensity cricket came in the way of Abbot when he played three Sheffield Shield matches through October and November, 2020, for New South Wales. Abbot took six wickets and made 60 against West Australia and against Queensland he made 66 and 18 and took four wickets in the match.
Abbot made a hundred (102 not out) and took four wickets at Tasmania just ahead of Australia's Test squad selection, and the wise men drafted him to the Test side for the four-match series against India, starting with the day-night Test against India at Adelaide on December 17.

At 28, Abbot has good time in front of him to carve a space for himself too.