Sports: Smith out of ODI and T20 series against Pakistan due to injury

Veteran Australian batsman Steve Smith has been ruled out of the ODI and T20 series against Pakistan due to a left elbow injury.   Mitchell ...

Veteran Australian batsman Steve Smith has been ruled out of the ODI and T20 series against Pakistan due to a left elbow injury.

 

Mitchell Swapson replaces Steve Smith in squad — File Photo: Reuters

Alex Contoris, a physiotherapist for the Australian team, said Smith had suffered some injuries in the final stages of the three-match Test series against Pakistan.

 

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"Recently, the fastest batsman to score 8,000 runs in Test cricket suffered the same elbow injury last year and keeping that in mind, we considered the recovery process necessary," he said in a statement.

 

The team physiotherapist added that the withdrawal from the series was aimed at giving him a fair amount of time to recover from an elbow injury to ensure his continued availability and good performance for Australia.

Steve Smith, on the other hand, said he did not consider his injury a major problem.

Smith will be replaced by Queensland league spinner Mitchell Swapson, who will be part of the three-match ODI series starting in Lahore on Tuesday, as well as the lone T20 on April 5.

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Mitchell Swapson, who made his Test debut in the series against Pakistan, has not represented Australia in ODI cricket to date, although he has played seven Twenty20 Internationals.

Chief selector George Bailey said: "Our panel decided not to select a replacement batsman because we think we have a lot of options in the squad.

"We have decided to include Mitchell Swapson in the limited overs cricket squad as his presence will give us additional options in the field of bowling and he has been in Pakistan for the last one month. Are also familiar with the conditions.

Australia ODI squad consists of these players.

Aaron Finch (captain), X Carrie, Travis Head, Marinus Lubushin, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Marcus Stevens, Mitchell Swapson, Adam Zampa, Sean Abbott, Ashton Eger, Jason Behrendroff, Ben Dwarts, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh ۔