A few days after Shaun Marsh's departure from the Australia squad, the team faced another major setback as their batsman Usman Khawaja has been ruled out from the World Cup ahead of their semi-final clash.
Khawaja suffered a hamstring injury, which will take three to four weeks to recover, during his side's 10-run defeat at the hands of South Africa on Saturday.
"Ussie's got a hamstring strain so he'll be out for probably three to four weeks which is a real shame but we have to work hard on getting him up for the Ashes now. Such a pity for him he's been so integral to how we've been playing. Like Shaun [Marsh] I feel sad for him that he's going to miss the World Cup semi-final," ESPN Cricinfo quoted coach Justin Langer as saying.
Matthew Wade from the Australia A squad will replace Khawaja in the squad. However, the team need the approval of the ICC's event technical committee for the replacement of Khawaja with Wade in the squad.
Apart from Khawaja, it was Marcus Stoinis, who picked up an injury during the match. Stoinis suffered a right side strain and the team is yet to make a call on his availability. However, Australia have called Mitch Marsh as a cover for Stoinis.
"And Marcus is the same, got another strain in his other side actually so we are working through that at the moment and we'll have to make a decision on him in the next 24 to 48 hours. Not in the final XI yet but Matthew Wade is coming up. He's in great form, he's had a great 12 or so months back home but he's also just scored two hundreds in one-day cricket so he's in great nick. And Mitch Marsh is going to come on standby for Stoinis to see how he comes up," he said.
Australia will face England in the second semi-final on July 11.
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