Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, will miss the one-day tour of India this month due to a chronic back injury in order to get fit for the home Ashes series against England, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Tuesday.
George Bailey will lead the one-day international team in India and Clarke will be replaced in the squad by Callum Ferguson.
Clarke led Australia to a 3-0 defeat in this year’s Ashes series in England and, as the captain and the team’s senior batsman, will be desperate to get fit for the first Test starting in Brisbane on November 21.
“Michael was very keen to captain the ODI team to India but unfortunately he hasn’t progressed enough to be available for selection,” said John Inverarity, the national selector.
Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, said Clarke’s chronic low back injury flared up during the recent one-day series in England and had been slow to improve.
“Michael ... will require a more extensive rehabilitation period before returning to competitive cricket,” Kountouris said.
Australia have added Nic Maddison to the Twenty20 squad in India.
They will play a one-off Twenty20 international on October 13 and the seven-match one-day series starts three days later.
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