Players who opted out of West Indies, Bangladesh tours have "realistic" chance of missing T20 WC, reckons Aaron Finch

Australia will square off against T20 World Champions West Indies in five T20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals. They will then fly to Bangladesh for a five-match T20I series. During the West Indies and Bangladesh tours, Australia will be without the services of many of its key players. Pat Cummins and David Warner have been rested for the limited-overs leg as a part of the long-term plan while Steve Smith is recovering from an elbow injury.

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However, as many as four Australian players who featured in IPL 2021 including the likes of Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, and Jhye Richardson made themselves unavailable for the two upcoming tours, owing to a variety of reasons. To make up for the absentees, Cricket Australia has recalled Ben McDermott, Ashton Turner, and Dan Christian.

Speaking about many players opting out of the West Indies and Bangladesh tour, Australia’s limited overs skipper Aaron Finch reckoned that there is a real possibility that the players who opted out of the tours may miss the T20 World Cup. Finch added that the team management will consider the players who are currently performing.

"So for guys to be on this tour to get the first opportunity to put their hand up and take that spot is what it's about. It's tough to ignore really good international performances. You have to go on the current form. These conditions will be very similar to what we face in the T20 World Cup I imagine - especially St Lucia being used quite a lot and then Bangladesh being quite similar to India or UAE, wherever that lands.

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"It could change a lot. That was based on the World Cup being in Australia and I thought our side in the lead-up to the original World Cup meant to be held here was really settled. You have to look to keep restructuring your site to gather more information. The more the wickets change and the more they go away from our traditional Australian wickets think the more we have to keep learning," Aaron Finch said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.