Cricket Australia announce 16-player squad for white-ball leg of Pakistan tour, David Warner, Pat Cummins among key absentees

Cricket Australia have named a 16-player squad for the white-ball leg of their historic tour of Pakistan. Several big names including the likes of David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell are giving the ODI and T20I series a miss and it will be interesting to see how the depleted squad embraces the challenge.

Notably, Australia, who are set to tour Pakistan for the first time in this century, will play three ODIs and a one-off T20I in the Asian nation, which gets underway on March 29. Notably, Cricket Australia won’t release their contracted players to join the early stages of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, which is scheduled to get underway in March end.

Australia faces a hefty task in absence of big names

The likes of Cummins, Warner and Hazlewood, who will participate in the Test series, earned hefty contracts in the mega auction earlier this month. While Starc pulled out of the competition, Maxwell was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Meanwhile, several other players of the squad are also set to be a part of IPL 2022. However, they would join their respective teams following the end of the Pakistan series.

Speaking of the Aaron Finch-led squad, Matthew Wade hasn’t been included as only one T20I will be played in the entire tour. Hence, Josh Inglis will travel as a back-up wicketkeeper for Alex Carey. In Warner’s absence, Ben McDermott will continue as Finch’s opening partner. With the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis and Steve Smith being available, the Aussies would like to do well.

“We have picked a talented and versatile squad with a number of challenges to juggle, including the tour structure of predominantly 50 over games, management of several multi-format players in the medium to long term; and our need to build experience and depth in preparation for two short-form World Cups within the next 18 months,” said national selector George Bailey said in a statement.

“We’re confident the squad can both compete successfully on this tour and continue our progress towards those crucial tournaments,” he added.

Australia’s ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa