Australia left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen has sustained a knee injury that has ruled her out of the upcoming three-match T20I series against New Zealand. The 26-year-old will require to undergo surgery which further puts in doubt her participation in the Women’s World T20. Jonassen injured her knee during an intra-squad trial match on the Gold Coast last weekend as per a report by cricket.com.au. The World T20 gets underway on November 9 with the final to be player on the 24th. "It was pretty innocuous, to be honest," Australia coach Matthew Mott said about the injury. "A lot of us thought she’d tripped over the ball, but she heard a little pop and she’s had that before, so she came straight off and iced it and we looked after it." Jonassen has picked up 41 T20I wickets with a best of 3/25 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2012. Earlier this year, she rose to the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I bowlers ranking for women after taking eight wickets in three matches against India. She had a career-best 676 points after she ended as the leading wicket-taker in Australia’s 3-0 whitewash of India. She is currently ranked 7 on the list. Following the tour of New Zealand, Australia women’s team will also head to Malaysia to play Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20s in October. While a time frame regarding Jonassen’s road to recovery is still unknown, Mott is slightly hopeful of her regaining fitness for the World Cup in about two months’ time. "We’re a bit unsure at the moment, she’s going to see the surgeon on Thursday, so it’s a bit of speculation at the moment just how long she’s out for," Mott said. "But she’s keeping really positive. She’s been through the process before. The best case scenario we’re looking at is hopefully (a return) for the back end of the Malaysia tour against Pakistan for her to join the squad. She’s reasonably confident and the good thing is she’s done a lot of work in the off-season, so her body’s really strong to be able to get through that rehabilitation." This is not the first time Jonassen has been injured. She had to miss the 50-over World Cup in 2013 after tearing her cartilage. In her absence, Cricket Australia has added two fresh faces in the squad that will tour New Zealand, Georgia Wareham and Tayla Vlaeminck.