David Warner plays a shot during his innings of 49, which launched Australia on their way to victory. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images
David Warner plays a shot during his innings of 49, which launched Australia on their way to victory. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

Cricket Australia has announced a 16-member squad for the limited-overs series against Pakistan as opener David Warner and the pace trio comprising of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood have been rested for the series. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell has already opted out of the series due to his marriage scheduled at the same time.

The ODI matches will be played on March 29, 31, and April 2 at Rawalpindi while the solitary T20I match will be played at the same ground on April 5.

Australia's David Warner (Associated Press)
Australia’s David Warner (Associated Press)

David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, and Josh Hazlewood will be available to play the IPL from April 6

However, none of these rested players can take part in IPL until the series finishes. However, they can complete their quarantine period and can be available for selection from April 6 onwards. While the likes of Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, and Nathan Ellis will miss another week after the series to complete their mandatory quarantine period. The IPL schedule hasn’t been announced.

Speaking about the squad, the chief selector George Bailey said that they picked a squad keeping an eye on ODI World Cup 2023.

“We have picked a talented and versatile squad with a number of challenges to juggle, including the tour structure of predominantly 50 over games, management of several multi-format players in the medium to long term; and our need to build experience and depth in preparation for two short-form World Cups within the next 18 months,” National Selector George Bailey said in a statement.

File image of Pat Cummins | Andrew Boyers/Reuters
File image of Pat Cummins | Andrew Boyers/Reuters

“We’re confident the squad can both compete successfully on this tour and continue our progress towards those crucial tournaments,” he added.

This will be Australia’s first ODI series after 8 months. The last time they played an ODI series, was against West Indies in July 2021 when Australia beat the hosts by 2-1.

This will be Australia’s first tour to Pakistan since 1998. The first test will begin at Rawalpindi on March 4.

Squad: Aaron Finch (C), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

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