Aaron Finch says several australian players who are absent have a ‘realistic’ chance of missing T20 World Cup

After opting out of the upcoming tours to the West Indies and Bangladesh, Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch stated on Friday that some short-format players have a very realistic possibility of being overlooked for the T20 World Cup.

Seven cricketers who recently played in the IPL — David Warner, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, and Daniel Sams — have withdrawn from the twin tours, while Steve Smith has been rested to fully recover from an elbow injury that flared up during the BCCI’s high-profile T20 tournament. The absentees, according to Finch, are in real danger of missing the showcase event in October-November as others make their claims.

“Yeah, very realistic (to miss out of T20 World Cup). You have to go on current form, and you pick guys who are playing well. For guys to be on this tour, to get the first opportunity to really put their hand up and take a spot is what it’s about,” Finch said.

“It’s tough to ignore really good international performances. So yeah, absolutely, there’s going to be opportunities for guys to put their hand up and take spots,” he was quoted as saying by cricket.au.com.

Australia will depart for the Caribbean on Monday with an 18-man squad missing up to seven top T20I players for the July 10-25 tour. All-format talents Warner and Cummins, who are also among Australia’s highest-paid IPL players, would miss the 10 T20Is and three ODIs in the Caribbean and Bangladesh after that, according to Finch (pending confirmation).

However, he described Maxwell, Jhye, Stoinis, and Kane’s absence as “surprising.” Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, has intimated that some of the IPL returnees who have opted out of the squad for the white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh will not be guaranteed an automatic position in the T20 World Cup.

Finch also revealed that he had “blurry vision” at last year’s IPL in the UAE and that he had undergone surgery on his left eye. The surgery has gone well thus far, but the 34-year-old believes the main test will come when Australia plays under lights, which they will do in all eight of their games in the Caribbean.