Peter Handscomb, who made his One-Day International debut earlier this year, has joined the Australian team in Chennai as a cover for injured Aaron Finch, who looks set to miss the initial few games of the upcoming five-match series against India due to a calf injury.
After missing the warm-up game against the Board President’s XI earlier this week, Finch was expected to play the first game after returning to training. However, he aggravated the injury in team’s regular training session on Thursday (September 14) and left the session midway to ice the injury. The hard-hitting batsman had suffered the injury while plying his trade for Surrey in England last month.
Alex Kountouris, Australia’s physiotherapist, confirmed the news and while assuring that the injury is not a serious one said that Finch ‘will not be available for the first few one-day matches’.
“Aaron re-aggravated his pre-existing calf injury during warm-up at training yesterday,” Alex Kountouris said. “He has had a scan in Chennai, and although we believe it is not a serious recurrence, he will not be available for the first few one-day matches here in India. He will remain with the squad whilst we assess the injury and establish his return to play timelines.”
Meanwhile, Handscomb will have a chance to continue his impressive show in Asia if he gets drafted in the playing eleven. The right-handed batsman had impressed in the Test series against India earlier this year and recently played a gutsy knock of 82 against Bangladesh. So far, he has played five matches, scoring 90 runs with his career-best 82 coming in the very first innings.
Australia, meanwhile, can also promote Travis Head as an opener. Hilton Cartwright had opened the innings in the practice tie but got dismissed for a duck. Head, on the other hand, had scored a century as an opener in January this year against Pakistan and also impressed in the warm-up game by scoring 65.
The series will start on Sunday (September 17) in Chennai.