MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia opener David Warner has been withdrawn from the Twenty20 series against India after starring at the 50-over World Cup.
The lefthander was Australia’s leading scorer with 535 runs at an average of 48.63 during their run to a sixth World Cup title in India.
“Selectors decided Warner would return home on the back of a successful yet demanding World Cup campaign,” Cricket Australia said in a statement on Tuesday.
Emerging Western Australian all-rounder Aaron Hardie has replaced Warner in the squad after making his ODI and T20 International debuts during the recent tour of South Africa.
Warner hopes to finish his test career at his home Sydney Cricket Ground against Pakistan in January but has put his hand up for more international white-ball cricket, with the T20 World Cup coming up next year.
Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins and fellow fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are also heading home from India along with all-rounders Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh.
Matthew Wade will captain the squad for the five-match series which starts on Thursday at Vishakhapatnam.
Fast bowler Kane Richardson has been called up as a replacement for the injured Spencer Johnson.
Just seven of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad will play the T20s, while head coach Andrew McDonald will also skip the series, handing the reins to stand-in Andre Borovec.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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