Australia skipper Steven Smith has been ruled out of the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee series after suffering an injury in his left ankle when he landed awkwardly while fielding during Australia’s 57-run win over Pakistan at Adelaide on Thursday.
The 27-year-old will undergo an MRI scan in Sydney to ascertain the extent of the ankle injury which according to the Australian cricket medical team staff is a mild “sprain” to the medial ligament in his left ankle.
“Steve injured his left ankle in the fielding innings of last night’s ODI,” said the Sport Science and Sports Medicine Manager, Alex Kountouris. “He came off the field and had his ankle strapped and was able to return to the field for the remainder of the match.
“Following further assessment this morning we believe Steve has sustained a medial ligament injury to his ankle. He will return to Sydney today to undergo scans to confirm the diagnosis.
“Early indications suggest this will likely take 7-10 days to recover, meaning Steve will be unable to participating in the Qantas Tour of New Zealand,” he added.
With less than a month remaining before the Aussies embark on the tough tour of India, Smith would be desperately hoping to recover from the injury as soon as possible. The Australian team is scheduled to attend a practice camp in Dubai prior to the Test series and Smith is confident of attending it. The team will leave for Dubai in two groups- Usman Khawaja, who is not a part of the ODI squad, is set to leave for the camp with Matt Renshaw, Ashton Agar, Steve O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson, Mitchell Marsh and Jackson Bird on January 30 while Smith was scheduled to arrive at the camp with the rest of the squad after the conclusion of the ODI series against New Zealand on February 5. Smith is now likely to delay his departure depending upon recovery.
“We’ve got a lot coming up so they think it’s an opportunity to rest it and be right for India,” Smith told reporters at Adelaide airport. “It’s a bit of a shock. I was a little bit concerned, I’ve never really injured my ankle like that. I was in a bit of pain last night, I injured it and went off and got it strapped and looked at and was in a reasonable amount of pain in the field. I was struggling a bit after the game last night, and it was about seeing how I woke up this morning and I woke up in a reasonable amount of pain again.
“They think it’s just a medial ligament sprain but I’m having an MRI this afternoon to see if there’s any more damage. I’m confident I’ll be fine to train in Dubai after that and for the first Test in India,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australia will have to name a new skipper for the three-match series as David Warner is also rested. Aaron Finch, who was recalled to the ODI team, is likely to take charge for the series which starts on January 30 in Auckland.