Sydney, Jan 31 (IANS) Australia’s pace spearhead Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to injury as Cricket Australia made two changes to the provisional squad to finalise their 15-member team for the mega T20 spectacle, commencing on February 7.

Cummins, along with Josh Hazlewood and Tim David, had initially been named in Australia’s provisional squad, pending fitness. The pacer, who has not played since his solitary Ashes Test appearance in Adelaide, since suffering a lumbar stress injury in July, has not recovered fully from his lingering back injury and will miss the marquee tournament in Sri Lanka and India.

Meanwhile, top-order batter Matthew Short has also been omitted from the original 15-player squad. However, Josh Hazlewood, who missed the entire Ashes series due to hamstring and Achilles injuries, has been included in the T20 World Cup squad. Tim David is also back in the team after missing the Pakistan tour.

Mitchell Marsh captains the team as Australia named a spin-heavy group, with Adam Zampa joined by Matthew Kuhnemann, Cooper Connolly and all-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw. Mitchell Owen is the most notable omission from the 15-man squad.

Despite Cummins’s absence, the team’s fast bowling unit looks strong with Hazlewood leading the pack, supported by Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis, who came in place of Cummins.

Australia has been drawn in Group B alongside Ireland, Oman, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. They will play their group stage matches in Sri Lanka, kicking off their campaign against Ireland on February 11 in Colombo.

The team is currently playing a three-match T20I series against Pakistan, where Mitchell Marsh’s side lost the first match by 22 runs on Thursday.

Australia squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup-

Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, and Ben Dwarshuis.

–IANS

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