Australia have made a last-minute change to their World Cup squad as Marnus Labuschagne has been added to the squad in replace of injured Ashton Agar. Also, they have kept injured Travis Head in the squad, who is expected to recover from the injury in the mid-tournament. 

Labuschagne did not get a place in any ODI series team before the World Cup team announcement because he was not in the expected form in ODIs. However, after Steve Smith was ruled out of the South Africa series due to injury, Labuschagne got the call. He grabbed that opportunity. However, he didn’t get a place in the World Cup team. But Agar’s injury opens the door for him and he’s included in the squad.

On the other hand, Head is in the final 15-player team, but he won't be able to play for the first half of the tournament because he broke his hand against South Africa. But because he didn't need surgery, there is hope that he will be able to play later in the round-robin stage. He is seen as so important to Australia's chances that they are ready to start the tournament with only 14 players.

"There has been one change to the original preliminary squad of 15 announced a month ago with Marnus replacing Ashton. This was a tough call but unfortunately, we couldn't carry both Travis and Ashton into the tournament with the injuries they have,” national selection chair George Bailey said.

"We have made the decision to carry Travis through the early stages with the aim of him being available around the mid part of the tournament. He has been a really important player in this ODI team and we are hopeful his return can provide a positive impetus as it gets to the business end of the tournament."

Australia’s World Cup mission will begin on October 8 against India, which will be played in Chennai.

Australia World Cup squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.