Australia suffered a major blow after their humiliating defeat in the ODI series against Pakistan as all-rounder Cooper Connolly has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series.
Connolly fractured his left hand after being struck by Mohammad Hasnain while batting in the series-deciding third ODI in Perth yesterday.
The 21-year-old all-rounder was forced to retire hurt and did not return to the field due to the injury. He underwent scans which revealed the fracture, which ruled him out of the three-match T20I series against Pakistan.
Cricket Australia (CA) in an official statement revealed that Cooper Connolly has sustained a fracture to his fourth metacarpal.
Meanwhile, the hosts have announced wicket-keeper Josh Philippe as Connolly’s replacement in the squad for the T20I series.
For the unversed, Pakistan, under newly-appointed captain Mohammad Rizwan, defeated Australia in the third ODI by eight wickets on Sunday in Perth to win their first series Down Under since 2002.
The visitors lost the first match of the three-match series by two wickets, however, they staged an impressive comeback to win the series 2-1.
The teams will now face each other in the first T20I on November 14 in Brisbane, with the next matches scheduled for November 16 and 18 in Sydney and Hobart, respectively.
Squads for Pakistan-Australia T20I series
Australia: Josh Inglis (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Josh Philippe, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Pakistan: Muhammad Rizwan (c), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.
