Australia is facing a crisis in their team for the Champions Trophy 2025. They will have to make as many as four changes to their team for the upcoming ICC tournament.
Now, it is revealed that their captain Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood have been officially ruled out of the tournament. They will stay out of the eight-team tournament due to injuries. Marcus Stoinis has retired from ODI cricket and Mitchell Marsh has withdrawn due to a back injury.
“Unfortunately Pat, Josh, and Mitch are managing some ongoing injuries and haven’t come up in time for the Champions Trophy,” said George Bailey, the chairman of the selection panel. “While disappointing, it does present a great opportunity for other players to perform for Australia in a world event.”
While Hazlewood is managing a hip problem. Earlier he suffered a hip and calf strain. Pat Cummins is recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during the recent Border Gavaskar series in Australia. It means that the Australian team will have to name a different captain for the upcoming ICC event.
It was reported earlier that Cummins is unlikely to feature in the Champions Trophy 20245. The head coach, Andrew McDonald had said that they are considering Steve Smith and Travis Head for the captaincy of the team.
“Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.”
According to him, “They’re the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the [first] Test match. He’s done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well. So it’s between those two.”
The Australian campaign will start on February 22 when they face England in the Champions Trophy.