India hit by injury ahead of T20 series

India have been forced to make two changes for the T20 leg of their tour of Australia, with Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar both suffering hand injuries.

Rahane split the webbing in his right hand during the fourth Victoria Bitter ODI in Canberra on Wednesday and was ruled out of Saturday's fifth match, replaced in the middle order by Manish Pandey. 

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Allrounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been named as cover for Rahane for the T20 series, but the batsman will stay with the squad and is still a chance to play during the series.

The news is more dire for Bhuvneshwar, who will fly home after he suffered a hairline fracture in his left thumb during the fourth ODI on Wednesday. 

His place in the T20 squad will be taken by allrounder Rishi Dhawan, who played the final three matches of the ODI series.

Bhuvneshwar was himself a late inclusion in the ODI squad having replaced Mohammad Shami in the days leading up to the series when the pacer suffered a hamstring injury. 

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Jasprit Bumrah, who was called it for Shami in the T20 squad, replaced Bhuvneshwar in the side for the ODI series finale at the SCG.

The T20 series begins in Adelaide on Tuesday ahead of matches in Melbourne on Friday and Sydney on Sunday.

Australia's T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Boyce, Nathan Lyon, Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye, Scott Boland, Shaun Tait

India’s T20 squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane (Gurkeerat Singh Mann to act as cover), Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishi Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra