Australia's James Faulkner to miss World Cup opener against Pakistan

James Faulkner

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, who missed the recent Australia tour of South Africa due to a knee injury, will not play the opening match of ICC World T20 between Australia and Pakistan. Speaking to the media ahead of their tournament opener, Australian captain George Bailey confirmed that Faulkner has still not recovered from the injury, and hence Australia does not want to take any risk with him.

“We will just monitor him. He is an important player. He has certainly played a huge role for Australian sides in the T20 and one-day formats,” captain George Bailey was quoted as saying by Skysports.

Australia have never won any edition of ICC World T20 till now, and Faulkner missing the initial games can create problems for the Kangaroos. Australia will also be without the services of Mitchell Johnson, who was ruled out of the tournament earlier due to a toe infection. While Faulkner’s condition is expected to get better as the tournament progresses, Doug Bollinger has flown in from Australia as a replacement for Johnson.