Australia captain Steve Smith has been ruled out of the three-match T20I series against India, starting on October 7.
A shoulder injury has led to the ouster of the right-hand batsman. An MRI had been performed on Smith’s shoulder after a training session in Ranchi on Friday (October 6).
Smith landed awkwardly on his right shoulder during the fifth ODI in Nagpur and had experienced soreness since then.
“He has had an MRI scan which has excluded serious injury, but we believe the best course of action is for him to not continue to aggravate his shoulder and allow it to recover,” said Bupa Support Team Doctor Richard Saw.
“He will have further investigation upon his return to Australia but we remain confident he will be available for the start of the Sheffield Shield season.”
Smith has been replaced by all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, whereas David Warner will now lead the side.
The Aussies are coming into the series after a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Virat Kohli & Co. With their star batsman out, it now remains to be seen how the team fares in his absence.
Squads:
India:
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Axar Patel
Australia:
David Warner (c), Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa
