Cricket Australia included Aaron Finch and Steven Smith in their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup squad. The team management is hopeful that Finch, who has undergone knee surgery, will recover in time.
Earlier, PTI reported that Smith was likely to join Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2021 to get some game time ahead of T20 World Cup. Smith missed the recent tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh due to a recurrent elbow injury.
Other prominent players like David Warner, Pat Cummins and Marcus Stoinis have been named in the squad. The most surprising inclusion was of uncapped Josh Inglis, who is currently in the UK.
Inglis plays for London Spirit in the Hundred. He struck a fluent half-century last night against Welsh Fire. Before that, he Inglis impressed with his hitting prowess in the recently concluded T20 Blast. He amassed 531 runs at a strike rate of 176.
He will be replacing Alex Carey, who failed to retain a place after underwhelming performances. Other than Carey, the likes of Josh Philippe, Moises Henriques and Riley Meredith too failed to make a cut.
‘We want to be really distinct in separating ODIs and T20 here because the feedback for Alex, even on this most recent tour, is that his one-day cricket has been fantastic,’ head selector George Bailey said on Carey’s omission.
Australia will take on South Africa in the tournament opener on 23 October.
Australia's squad for T20 World Cup 2021: Aaron Finch (c), Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.