Allrounder Aaron Hardie has been called up to the squad ahead of Thursday’s opening match. David Warner has been given a break after the ODI World Cup, and withdrawn from the T20I series against India. He joins a group of multiformat players who will skip the five-match series ahead of the home summer, starting with the first Test against Pakistan. The group also includes Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green, and Mitchell Marsh.
Warner had an outstanding World Cup, where he scored 535 runs at 48.63, and the upcoming Pakistan series will mark the final stage of his Test career, with retirement set in January. Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie, who made his debut in South Africa earlier this year, has been added to the T20I squad. Kane Richardson has also been called up as a replacement for Spencer Johnson, who has a hamstring injury. The series, beginning just four days after the ODI World Cup final, is part of the build-up to next year’s T20 edition in West Indies and the USA.
Australia currently have six more T20Is scheduled before that tournament. The squad now includes seven players who featured during the World Cup, plus Tanveer Sangha who was a travelling reserve throughout. The series will be led by Matthew Wade, with a stand-in coach, Andre Borovec, taking charge as Andrew McDonald returns home ahead of the summer.
The series gets underway in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, and the Australia T20I squad includes Matthew Wade (capt), Travis Head, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, and Tanveer Sangha.