Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh were all left out of Australia’s Twenty20 International (T20I) squad Thursday to play South Africa and India. In their absence, Marcus Stoinis and Jason Behrendorff get a chance to impress after being included in the 13-man squad for a one-off T20I against the Proteas and three against India.
“We know coming off the back of the tour to the UAE, a huge summer at home, and the World Cup and Ashes just around the corner that we have to get the balance right between playing our best T20 team and preparing for the upcoming Test series,” said Australia head coach Justin Langer.
“While I know all four have a desire to be playing for Australia in every format, with a really tough Test series against India coming up, we believe their best preparation is to go back and get some really good cricket under their belts in the Sheffield Shield.”
Aaron Finch’s Australia have lost 17 of their 19 ODIs and were thrashed 3-0 by Pakistan in a T20I series in the United Arab Emirates last month.
Squad : Aaron Finch (capt), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
