India, Feb. 6 -- Australia received a body blow ahead of the T20 World Cup as pacer Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the competition on Friday. The speedster who missed the Ashes 2025-26 campaign, has failed to recover in time for the 20-team tournament. He was named in the initial squad; however, he remained in Sydney when the rest of the team assembled in Sri Lanka last week. Just five days before Australia's opening match against Ireland in Colombo, the 35-year-old was deemed unfit and hence would miss the 10th edition of the tournament.

National selector Tony Dodemaide confirmed the development, saying the outlook for the paceman has changed. "We were hopeful Josh would be back to match fitness by the Super Eights stage but the latest...