Peter Nevill was the surprise inclusion in Australia's 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, which gets underway in India next month.

The wicketkeeper has earned himself a place despite having never previously played any one-day international or T20 international cricket.

He has replaced limited-overs specialist Matthew Wade, who has been the gloveman for the last couple of years.

"We feel our batting depth in this squad is sufficient enough that we can have a specialist wicketkeeper in the squad," said national selector Rod Marsh.

"We want Australia's best wicketkeeper playing in this tournament and we consider Peter Nevill to be the best in the country right now."

Elsewhere, Steve Smith has been named the captain ahead of Aaron Finch, although the latter still remains in the squad.

"We think now is the right time for Steve to lead Australia in all three forms of the game as it offers us important continuity, not only ahead of the World T20, but beyond that tournament as well," added Marsh.

Australia squad for ICC World Twenty20: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill, Andrew Tye, Shane Watson, Adam Zampa.