Pat Cummins ruled out, no Steve Smith as Australia announce squad for T20 World Cup 2026
Australia announced their 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday, January 31. Pat Cummins was ruled out due to injury, while Steve Smith was ignored.
Australia confirmed a huge injury blow as they announced their squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday, January 31. Aussie selectors confirmed that pacer Pat Cummins was not picked as he has been ruled out of the tournament due to a persistent back injury. Mitchell Marsh will lead Australia in the upcoming showpiece event, which gets underway on February 07.
Cummins has been dealing with a recurring back injury, which also saw him miss four out of the five Tests in the Ashes 2025-26 against England at home. The Aussie skipper played only one Test against the visitors before being withdrawn from the squad. Australia have replaced Cummins with left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis in the T20 World Cup squad.
"With Pat needing more time to recover from his back injury, Ben is a ready replacement who offers a left arm pace option as well as dynamic fielding and late order hitting. We believe his ability to swing the ball at good pace along with clever variations will be well suited to the conditions we expect and overall structure of the squad," said Australia selector Tony Dodemaide on Cummins' exclusion.
Australia have also left out senior batter Steve Smith from the squad, indicating that his time in T20Is might be over despite his heroics in the Big Bash League. In Cummins' absence, the experienced Josh Hazlewood will lead Australia's pace attack alongside Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett and Dwarshuis, among others.
Australia have also picked several all-rounders in their team to bolster their batting and bowling depth. Senior all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell are part of the 15-man squad along with the likes of Cameron Green, Tim David and Cooper Connolly. However, the Aussie selectors have left out big-hitting all-rounder Matt Short from the squad.
Short was named in Australia's initial squad for the tournament, however, he has been replaced by Matt Renshaw in the final squad. Renshaw has been added to bolster Australia's middle order, as they already have enough options in the top order.
Australia's squad for T20 World Cup 2026:
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
With Short dropped from the squad, Travis Head is likely to open with skipper Marsh in the T20 World Cup 2026. The likes of Josh Inglis, Green and Maxwell add further firepower to Australia's top order. The 2021 champions have also picked an additional spinner in Matt Kuhnemann, keeping the conditions in mind in India and Sri Lanka.
Australia are currently taking on Pakistan in a three-match T20I series, their final international assignment before the T20 World Cup 2026 next week. Australia are in Group B in the T20 World Cup 2026 alongside Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Oman and Ireland. Australia will open their campaign against Ireland in Colombo on February 11.