Handscomb included in Australia squad as cover for injured Finch

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Sept 15 (ANI): Right-handed batsman Peter Handscomb has been included in the Australia's ODI squad as a cover for injured Aaron Finch for the five-match series against India, beginning September 17 in Chennai.

Finch is doubtful for the first few games of the India tour after he aggravated his right calf during Australia's warm-up session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday and pulled out of the rest of the session to ice the muscle.

Reflecting on Finch's injury, team physio Alex Kountouris said that although they don't believe it is a serious recurrence, the 30-year-old would not be available for first few ODI matches.

"Aaron re-aggravated his pre-existing calf injury during warm-up at training yesterday. He has had a scan in Chennai and although we believe it is not a serious recurrence, he will not be available for the first few one-day matches here in India," cricket.com.au quoted Kountouris as saying.

"He will remain with the squad whilst we assess the injury and establish his return to play timelines," he added.

Earlier in the week, stand-in coach David Saker confirmed that Travis Head has been earmarked to fill the vacant the number four spot and with Finch's injury not series-ending, Hilton Cartwright may be used as a stop-gap opener until the swashbuckling opener is fit again.

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

India squad (first three ODIs): Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.(ANI)