Yahoo Finance 'Nothing more important': Mitchell Starc out of India series after family illness
Mitchell Starc will miss the rest of the Twenty20 series against India after leaving the Australian bubble to deal with a family illness.
Cricket Australia confirmed on Sunday morning that Starc would sit out the two remaining T20s at the SCG - the first on Sunday evening and the second on Tuesday.
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Australian Test players begin arriving in Adelaide from as soon as Wednesday, although a later group won't head there for the first Test until early next week.
“There is nothing in the world more important than family and in this case Mitch is no exception,” coach Justin Langer said.
“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.”
Starc missed the final ODI in Canberra on Wednesday with rib soreness, but returned to play in the opening T20 loss on Friday night.
Selectors have already taken Cameron Green out of the T20 squad to play in an Australia A game, while Marcus Stoinis is injured and Pat Cummins rested.
Nathan Lyon has since been added to the T20 fold, along with Mitch Swepson.
Starc's departure could leave the door open for Daniel Sams to make his international debut on Sunday night, with Andrew Tye the other pace option.
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Swepson says there is no reason he and fellow legspinner Adam Zampa can't thrive in the same XI as Australia seek to bounce back from a Twenty20 loss to India.
Swepson, who was withdrawn from the Australia A squad to join the national T20 squad, and Zampa worked in partnership together at Manuka Oval on Friday night.
Swepson claimed 1-21 from two overs, admitting he was overexcited and should have bowled better, while Zampa logged figures of 1-20 from his four overs.
National selectors have generally opted for variety in their T20 attack, using the left-arm spin of Ashton Agar in conjunction with Zampa's legbreaks.
Agar's calf injury prompted a rethink, meaning Zampa and Swepson were no longer battling over one spot in the squad.
"Two legspinners in fine. You've seen the impact that legspin has had on the T20 format in basically all competitions," Swepson told reporters.
"BBL, IPL, international cricket - there's a lot of legspinners having a lot of impact.
"In the BBL there's quite a few teams that play two legspinners.
"Legspinners can have that impact. If you've got two that are good enough then why not play both of them? That ability to spin the ball both ways puts doubt in the batsman's mind."
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