Australia All-Rounder Suffers Shoulder Injury A Month Before India White-Ball Series

Injuries continue to pile up for Australia as in what comes as a fresh blow, all-rounder Aaron Hardie is expected to miss over a month due to a shoulder injury. The injury has ruled Hardie out of Australia A’s tour of India next week, and he will likely be in a race against time to be fit for the white-ball series against India next month, which starts from October 19. 

"Hardie will complete targeted rehabilitation in Perth over the coming weeks with potential for return play early in the Sheffield Shield season," Cricket Australia said in a statement this morning.

In Hardie’s absence, Australia have decided to add Will Sutherland to the ‘A’ squad for the second unofficial Test match in Lucknow, which is slated to start from September 23. 

Hardie, 26, made his international debut two years ago and, since then, has been constantly in and around the white-ball set-up. The youngster has already played 31 white-ball internationals for Australia, and recently featured in two ODIs and a T20I against South Africa. 

He also played two of the five T20Is away in West Indies in July, scoring 23 & 28* with the bat while taking three wickets with the ball, predominantly operating in the powerplay. 

The first unofficial Test between India ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ will start from September 16. While the hosts will be led by Shreyas Iyer, Australia have not named a designated skipper. 

India ‘A’ squad for Australia A red-ball games 

Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain, wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Harsh Dubey, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Manav Suthar, Yash Thakur. 

Second match only: KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj

Australia ‘A’ squad for India A red-ball games

Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Aaron Hardie, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott, Henry Thornton. 

Second match only: Will Sutherland

Australia ‘A’ squad for India A white-ball games

Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, Henry Thornton