Absentee Australian Players Are In Genuine Danger Of Missing Out On T20 World Cup: Aaron Finch

Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch has said that absentee players who chose to opt out of the upcoming limited-overs tours of West Indies and Bangladesh a miss have a real chance of missing out from the T20 World Cup 2021 squad as well.

Seven cricketers – David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, and Daniel Sams – who recently played in the IPL have pulled out of the twin tours, while Steve Smith was not selected due to his elbow problem which occurred in the IPL 2021.

Australia will fly out to the Caribbean on Monday (June 28) for the July 10-25 tour with an 18-man squad short of up to seven front-line T20I players.

You Have To Go On Current Form, And You Pick Guys Who Are Playing Well: Aaron Finch

Australian players were stuck in the Maldives after flying out there and quarantining as the IPL 2021 was postponed after 29 matches were played due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the tournament’s bio-bubble. Then after a prolonged stay in the island nation, the players then had to undergo hard quarantine in Sydney before being allowed to go home.

This led to seven players opting out of the Bangladesh and West Indies tours where Australia will play more than 10 limited-overs matches including a majority of T20I games, which will be their only preparation for the T20 World Cup 2021 to be held in India in October-November.

“Yeah, very realistic (to miss out of T20 World Cup). You have to go on current form, and you pick guys who are playing well. For guys to be on this tour, to get the first opportunity to really put their hand up and take a spot is what it’s about. It’s tough to ignore really good international performances. So yeah, absolutely, there’s going to be opportunities for guys to put their hand up and take spots,” Finch said on cricket.au.com.

Finch last week said it had been a “long-term plan” for all-format stars Warner and Cummins, both among Australia’s highest-paid IPL players, to miss the 10 T20Is and three ODIs in the Caribbean and Bangladesh after that (pending confirmation). However, he was surprised when Maxwell, Jhye, Stoinis, and Kane decided to opt-out as well.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns had also implied that there is no assurance that some of the IPL returnees who have opted out of the white-ball tours of West Indies and Bangladesh would get an automatic spot in the T20 World Cup.

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