SYDNEY: Veterans Usman Khawaja, Peter Siddle, and Nathan Lyon were on Friday recalled to a revamped Australian One-day International squad to play India with an eye on the World Cup in England later this year.

After a poor run in the limited-overs format, selectors ruthlessly axed Travis Head, Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short, Ben McDermott and all-rounder Ashton Agar.

Bowling spearheads Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are missing after being ordered to rest and prepare for two upcoming Tests against Sri Lanka.

National selector Trevor Hohns said that after Australia lost to South Africa 2-1 at the start of the summer, a change was needed to turn things around.

“With this in mind and the World Cup looming, we’ve selected players we feel provide us with the flexibility to play a variety of roles at different stages of a match,” he said. “The upcoming three-match series against India and the ODI tours of India and the UAE are important windows to put this into practice and to build a squad to help defend our World Cup title.”

Seamer Siddle’s return was a surprise. He played his last ODI in November 2010, but gets another chance with the country’s top fast bowlers unavailable. He will lead the attack alongside Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, and Billy Stanlake.

Khawaja returns after an almost two-year exile while Lyon replaces Agar after being overlooked for the recent South Africa series. Test players Mitch Marsh and Peter Handscomb were also included, with Aaron Finch the captain.

Australia play three ODIs against India, starting in Sydney on Jan 12 before moving to Adelaide and Melbourne.

Squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2019