Experienced Australia opener David Warner on Tuesday, withdrew from the upcoming five-match T20I series against India after his ICC World Cup 2023 exploits.
His withdrawal means just seven players from Australia’s World Cup-winning squad will feature in the away T20I series against India, among them are Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith.
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Consequently, all-rounder Aaron Hardie has been named the replacement for David Warner, who is all set to bid adieu to Test cricket.
“Selectors decided Warner would return home on the back of a successful yet demanding World Cup campaign,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Notably, David Warner played a pivotal role in Australia’s successful World Cup campaign as the left-handed opener was their top-scorer with 535 runs at 48.63.
In the grand final on Sunday, Australia outclassed unbeaten hosts India by six wickets to lift their sixth title.
The two sides meet again in the five-match T20I series, scheduled to commence on November 23 in Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, right-handed explosive batter Suryakumar Yadav will lead India in the upcoming series in the absence of their regular captain Rohit Sharma.
Notably, only three of their World Cup squad will feature in the T20I home series.
Right-handed middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer will join the squad as the vice-captain for the last two T20Is, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said.
Series Itinerary:
November 23: India vs Australia – 1st T20I (Visakhapatnam)
November 26: India vs Australia – 2nd T20I (Thiruvananthapuram)
November 28: India vs Australia – 3rd T20I (Guwahati)
December 1: India vs Australia – 4th T20I (Raipur)
December 5: India vs Australia – 5th T20I (Bengaluru)
India Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Australia Squad: Matthew Wade (c), Aaron Hardie, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.