Joe Burns clean sheet (Photo-Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Joe Burns: Italy captain Joe Burns has been dropped from the team just before the T20 World Cup 2026. Joe Burns had an important contribution in qualifying Italy for the T20 World Cup but he will no longer play in this tournament. India Cricket Association has confirmed this. According to the association, Burns will not be able to participate in the tournament due to contract related issues. The board also said that Wayne Madsen will captain Italy in the T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka next year.
On the issue of dropping Joe Burns from the team, Italy Cricket Board said that there were many talks with him but complete consensus could not be reached, as a result his formal contract was not signed. 36-year-old Burns played an important role in helping Italy qualify for the tournament. He was a part of the Italy team in the 2026 European T20 World Cup Qualifier and also captained the team during the qualifying.
He played eight T20 International matches for Italy, in which he also scored an unbeaten century in the European Qualifier Group A final against Romania. Under his captaincy, Italy defeated Guernsey and Scotland in the Europe Regional Final Group, due to which Italy reached the T20 World Cup.
Joe Burns scored 271 runs for Italy in 8 matches at an unmatched average of 45.16. His strike rate was around 140. During this period, 26 fours and 10 sixes came from his bat. After such excellent batting, it will be really regrettable that Burns will not play in the T20 World Cup.
Let us tell you that Burns was an Australian player but he also had an Italian passport because his grandmother was Italian. He played his first match for Italy in the year 2023 and due to playing in the county last year, he could not participate in Italy's qualifier games.
Let us tell you that in the T20 World Cup, the Italian team has to play its first match against Bangladesh on February 9 in Kolkata. Italy will also have to face England, West Indies and Nepal.
Joe Burns was born on 6 September 1989. He earlier played in the Australian national team. Along with this, he has played for Melbourne Stars in Big Bash League and Queensland in Australian domestic cricket., Joe Burns got a chance to make his Test debut after the injury to all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in December 2014. He played his first Test against India in Melbourne, where he batted at number 6. He failed in both the innings. But after this he scored half-centuries in both the innings in Sydney.
In 2015, Burns scored his first Test century against New Zealand at the Gabba. Burns scored 1442 runs in 23 Tests at an average of more than 36, in which he scored 4 centuries and 7 half-centuries. In ODI matches, he scored 146 runs at an average of 24.33.
