Australia cricket team have been dealt with a blow as Josh Hazlewood could miss the initial stages of the T20 World Cup 2026. This development comes days after Pat Cummins was ruled out of the marquee event after failing to recover completely from his back injury. Although Hazlewood is optimistic of returning towards the latter half of the T20 World Cup, Australia will head into the tournament without any veteran pacers in the side initially.
Hazlewood to miss initial parts of T20 World Cup
As per ESPNCricinfo, Hazlewood will remain in Sydney to continue his rehabilitation from the Achilles heel injury and could miss the early stages of the tournament. The report states that Sean Abbott has been added to Australia’s World Cup squad as a traveling reserve. Hazlewood missed the entire Ashes series against England last year due to a hamstring injury after which he picked up the Achilles injury during his rehab. While he was confident of making his return in time for the T20 WC, that is not the case now.
“We felt with Josh it was more practical and beneficial for him to continue his rehabilitation at home in a familiar environment before travelling to Sri Lanka. Sean is an accomplished and versatile international player who has experienced numerous World Cup campaigns. It made sense for him to stay with the group following the Pakistan tour,” Tony Dodemaide Australia’s selector, said
Meanwhile, the report states that Glenn Maxwell, Tim David and Nathan Ellis will join the rest of the Australia squad in Colombo on Tuesday. Australia will take on Netherlands in their warm-up fixture on February 5.
Australia squad for T20 World Cup
Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, Sean Abbott (travelling reserve)
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