Australia stand-in captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India in Mumbai on Tuesday due to a calf strain with stand-in vice-captain Tahlia McGrath set to lead her country for the first time.
Healy, who took over as captain for this tour in the absence of Meg Lanning, suffered a calf strain while batting in the fourth T20I on Saturday.
Healy was unable to bat again or field with McGrath taking over as captain as Australia successfully defended 188. Beth Mooney, who keeps in the WBBL for Perth Scorchers, kept wicket during the chase and is set to keep again in the final match.
Healy will undergo scans on her calf when she returns to Australia later this week to determine the extent of the damage. Australia have home T20I and ODI series against Pakistan in mid-January ahead of the T20 World Cup in February.
Healy's injury means her extraordinary record streak of 107 consecutive T20Is for Australia will come to an end.
McGrath was confident she could handle captaining her country after holding her nerve on Saturday and captaining Adelaide Strikers to the WBBL title last month.
"I'm new to leadership in this team and been learning a lot on the fly and it probably worked in my favour that I didn't have long to think about it," McGrath told reporters in Mumbai on Monday. "I was strangely calm out there, I had a lot of support. I had to try and stay calm and keep the team calm.
"I've come off the back of captaining Strikers for six weeks where it's high pressure. The best players in the world are there and that's what it felt like, I was captaining the Strikers with a few extra players."
Phoebe Litchfield is likely to get a second opportunity at international level having made her debut in game two of the series, although she did not bat.
Australia are undecided as to who will open alongside Mooney but they have plenty of options, including Litchfield and Ellyse Perry.
"We haven't decided yet," McGrath said. "But I think the good news is we've got a lot of options, whether Pheebs [Litchfield] comes in, she's done it in the Big Bash, myself, Pez [Perry]. We've got so many options but we'll have to wait and see."