Starc withdraws from Aussie squad for personal reasons

Fast bowler Mitch Starc has withdrawn from Australia's squad and will miss the remainder of the Dettol T20I Series against India on compassionate grounds.

Having arrived back in Sydney from Canberra on Saturday, Starc left the Australian team bubble having been informed about a family illness.

"There is nothing in the world more important than family and in this case Mitch is no exception," said Justin Langer, the Australian men’s team Head Coach.

"We will give Mitch all the time he needs and welcome him back into the squad with open arms whenever he feels the time is right for him and his family."

It's unclear when Starc will re-join the Australian team for the first Vodafone Test, which starts December 17 in Adelaide. 

Starc's withdrawal is the latest change to Australia's ODI and T20 squad in the past week. David Warner and Ashton Agar have been ruled out with injury, Pat Cummins was given a short break to prepare for the Test summer while Marcus Stoinis has remained with the squad despite suffering a side injury.

D'Arcy Short, Mitch Swepson and Nathan Lyon have been added to the squad, but there will be no replacement for Starc given Andrew Tye and Daniel Sams are already in the squad.

Starc missed the third Dettol ODI in Canberra with back and rib niggles but returned for the first T20 against India at Manuka Oval and took 2-34 in the 11-run loss.

The left-armer was not at his best in the first two ODIs against Virat Kohli's side, producing combined figures of 1-149 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

But in Canberra on Friday, the 30-year-old bowled with pace and swing, removing the dangerous Shikhar Dhawan with a rapid outswinger that clipped the left-hander's off stump.

While he might be down on form, Starc is one of the most potent white-ball bowlers in the history of the game.

He was the player of the tournament in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 tournament with 27 wickets in 10 matches.

He was also the fastest to 100 ODI wickets and is on pace to be the fastest to 200.

One-day skipper Aaron Finch knows just how valuable Starc is to his team, despite the dip in the form.

"We know he's a great bowler," Finch told cricket.com.au last Sunday

"The amount of times he's got us out of jail in one-day cricket, T20 cricket he's a got a few credits, don't worry about that.

"A few boys still owe him a couple of beers I reckon for some handy work that he's mopped up."

Dettol T20 INTL Series v India 2020

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, D'Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur

First T20: India won by 11 runs

Second T20: December 6, SCG, 7.10pm AEDT

Third T20: December 8, SCG, 7.10pm AEDT