Mitch Swepson has been rushed into Australia’s team for the Twenty20 series opener against India as a replacement for the injured Ashton Agar.
Australia confirmed the move Friday after it won the toss and elected to bowl at Manuka Oval, with Agar ruled out of the T20 series after injuring his calf in Wednesday’s ODI loss to India. Australia won the three-match ODI series 2-1.
Swepson has played just one international match — a T20 for Australia against England in 2018. His inclusion means Australia will play two wrist spinners, with Adam Zampa holding his spot.
D’Arcy Short will also come into the team to open with Aaron Finch.
India, meanwhile, has kept six players from Wednesday’s ODI win, resting fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah while bringing Mohammed Shami back into the side.
Australia can return to No. 1 in the T20 world with a win on Friday, but must claim victory in the three-match series to keep it. The next two matches are Sunday and Tuesday in Sydney ahead of a four-match test series in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Lineups:
Australia: Aaron Finch (captain) D’Arcy Short, Matthew Wade, Steven Smith, Glenn
Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Adam
Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
India: K.L. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju
Samson, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar,
Mohammed Shami, Thangarasu Natarajan.
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