Australia captain Pat Cummins and pacer Josh Hazlewood were ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy, Cricket Australia announced on Thursday.
Cummins had suffered an injury after the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India and was not a part of the Australian side touring Sri Lanka for two Test matches. He faced a race against time to regain match fitness for the eight-team tournament.
Hazlewood had suffered a hip injury mid-series and was ruled out after the third Test in Brisbane.
“Unfortunately Pat, Josh and Mitch [Marsh] are managing some ongoing injuries and haven’t come up in time for the Champion’s Trophy,” national selection panel chair George Bailey said.
“While disappointing, it does present a great opportunity for other players to perform for Australia in a world event.”
With Cummins out of contention, Travis Head or Steve Smith is likely to take over captaincy. The latter was named as the Test captain for the Sri Lanka Tests.
Earlier on Thursday, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced his retirement from One-Day Internationals along with his withdrawl from the Champions Trophy.
This latest updates meant Australia will have to make as many as four changes to its provisional squad for the tournament which starts on February 19.
Australia has been drawn in Group B along with England, South Africa and Afghanistan.
