Finch set to lead Australia in T20 WC after knee surgery

Aaron Finch had a knee surgery to repair the damaged cartilage. Finch sustained the knee injury at St Lucia last month on a short format tour of West Indies.

IMAGE: Aaron Finch had a knee surgery to repair the damaged cartilage. Finch sustained the knee injury at St Lucia last month on a short format tour of West Indies. Photograph: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

Australia's short format captain Aaron Finch is on track to lead the team at the Twenty20 World Cup in October and November after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Cricket Australia said on Friday.

The 34-year-old opener sustained the knee injury at St Lucia last month on a short format tour of West Indies and was flown home to have surgery after undergoing 14 days of quarantine.

Cricket Australia said the operation to repair the damaged cartilage took place in Melbourne on Thursday and that with an expected recovery period of eight to 10 weeks, Finch should be available for the start of the T20 World Cup.

The seventh T20 World Cup has been moved from India because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will take place in the United Arab Emirates and Oman over a month from Oct. 17.

Alex Carey took over as skipper for the remainder of the West Indies tour before Matthew Wade assumed the mantle for the ensuing T20 series in Bangladesh, which Australia lost 4-1.

Australia have never won the T20 World Cup with their best finish of runners-up coming in the 2010 edition in West Indies, when they lost to England in the final.

England to play 2 T20s in Pakistan before Twenty20 World Cup

England will play a two-match Twenty20 series in Pakistan before both teams leave for the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in October.

Both matches were initially scheduled to be played in Karachi, but the Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday said it was moving the series to Rawalpindi due to “operational and logistical reasons.”

Pindi Cricket Stadium will host the games on October 13 and October 14.

It will be England's first tour to Pakistan since 2005. The England squad will return for another limited-overs series and World Test Championship matches next year.

While the England's men team will be touring Pakistan after a 16-year break, England's women's squad, led by Heather Knight, will tour Pakistan alongside their men's team for the first time.

The England squads will arrive Oct. 9.

Eoin Morgan's England men's squad will leave for the UAE on October 15. The women's team will stay in Rawalpindi for the three ODIs on October 17, 19 and 21.