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Cricket Australia faced a huge blow as their ODI World Cup 2023 captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood also ruled out of Champions Trophy 2025. This comes after star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis announced his sudden retirement from ODIs ahead of the showpiece event.
Cummins has not recovered from the ankle issue that plagued him towards the end of the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India, while Hazlewood has developed a hip problem following earlier hip and calf strains.
Both fast bowlers will require an extended period of rehabilitation before they receive the all-clear to return to play, which places a question mark over their involvement in the Indian Premier League which follows the Champions Trophy.
"Unfortunately Pat, Josh and Mitch are managing some ongoing injuries and haven’t come up in time for the Champion’s Trophy,," national selection panel chair George Bailey said today.
"While disappointing, it does present a great opportunity for other players to perform for Australia in a world event."
Andrew McDonald suggested Steve Smith and Travis Head as the potential options for captains for the marquee event.
Andrew McDonald, flagging the pace pair's unlikeliness to make the Champions Trophy, has suggested Steve Smith and Travis Head as the options to replace Cummins as skipper.
Australia will start their Champions Trophy campaign against arch-rivals England at Lahore on February 22, followed by matches against South Africa and Afghanistan at Rawalpindi on February 25 and 28 respectively.
Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to start from February 19 and the tournament will be played in a hybrid model where one of the semifinal and matches featuring India will be played in Dubai and the rest of the tournament will take place in Pakistan. The venue for the final also depends on India's performance, if the Rohit-led side qualifies for the title decider it will take place in Dubai otherwise Pakistan's Lahore will host the summit clash.
Australia preliminary squad: Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa (squad yet to be finalised)
