Pat Cummins picked amid injury concern as Australia announce squad for 2025 Champions Trophy

Australia have named a 15-man preliminary squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy, which includes skipper Pat Cummins, who is currently under an injury cloud. The pacer's selection was contingent on the results of the scans he underwent to assess a sore ankle after a hectic Border-Gavaskar series.

The Men in Yellow needed a new opening batter after David Warner's retirement. They have named Matt Short as the candidate to partner Travis Head at the top of the order, instead of Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Short has had a wobbly start to his ODI career, recording 195 runs in nine innings at an average of 21.67. But, he is currently in good form for the Adelaide Strikers in the 2024-25 Big Bash League (BBL) and brings his handy off-spin to the table too.

Much like Short, all-rounder Aaron Hardie has also availed his maiden call-up to an ICC event. He serves as the secondary all-rounder in the squad behind Marcus Stoinis, with Cameron Green still recovering from a stress fracture on his back. He has made eight ODI appearances, including the three-match series against Pakistan that kick-started the Australian summer.

Nathan Ellis' consistent heroics in white-ball have landed him a berth in the Champions Trophy squad. He was part of the 2024 T20 World Cup squad as well.

It remains to be seen how Pat Cummins' injury holds up during the tournament's build-up. According to the tournament guidelines, teams can make changes to the provisional squad up to a week before their first match.

Apart from Cummins, fellow pacer Josh Hazlewood is also an injured candidate in the Champions Trophy squad. He was not named in the squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka after being ruled out of the latter stages of the Border-Gavaskar series.

"This is a balanced and experienced squad with the core having been involved in the previous one-day World Cup, the West Indies series, last year's successful tour of the UK, and the more recent Pakistan home series," Bailey said (via cricket.com.au)

Australia squad for 2025 Champions Trophy

Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Australia have been drawn in Group B of the Champions Trophy

The Men in Yellow, the two-time winners of the competition, have been drawn alongside England, Afghanistan, and South Africa, in Group B. They will kick-start their campaign with a clash against arch-rivals England on February 22 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Australia are scheduled to play a one-off ODI against Sri Lanka on February 13, which serves as their sole preparation avenue ahead of the tournament.