Australia v India first Test: Will Pucovski to miss Adelaide opener as Marcus Harris gets call
One opening spot in the Aussie side for the first Test in Adelaide looks to have been decided. The other is likely to come down to whether Cameron Green is squeezed into the side.
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Marcus Harris looks set for an astonishing comeback to Test cricket after Will Pucovski’s baggy green dream vanished at the 11th hour for the third consecutive season.
Three weeks ago, Harris was not even in a 17-man Australian Test squad and would have rated himself a 100-1 chance of playing the first Test as No.4 on the pecking order of the country’s opening batsmen.
But now the only question would appear to be who will partner him at the top of the order in Adelaide, with a positive health update on the condition of gun all-rounder Cameron Green heaping enormous pressure on incumbent opener Joe Burns to hold his place.
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On another dramatic day in the Australian selection room, Green was confirmed as showing clinical and symptomatic improvement following the freakish concussion he suffered on Friday night and there is confidence he can still make his Test debut this week because he has no history of prior head knocks.
However, Pucovski, who suffered the ninth concussion of his career last Tuesday, was ruled out of the first Test – with Harris is replacement – but will remain part of the squad and push for that elusive debut on Boxing Day at the MCG.
If not for setbacks with his mental wellbeing, Pucovski was on the verge of a baggy green against Sri Lanka at the beginning of 2019 and Pakistan at the end of that same year, and this time it’s concussion which has again pressed pause on the debut the entire country is desperately waiting for.
There were more injury concerns for the Australian squad on Saturday as reserve bowler Sean Abbott left the Australia A game at the SCG with calf tightness and won’t bowl again in the match as his workload is managed.
Meanwhile, one of the options on the table to open for Australia in the first Test, and the one that would allow Green a debut in the middle-order – Marnus Labuschagne – declared his hope that he will be left to bat in his accustomed position at No.3.
If Labuschagne moved up a place to open, it would allow a reshuffle that would make a vacancy for Green.
Burns has one more innings for Australia A against the Indian attack to save himself for the axe.
The one certainty for Australia is Harris, the one bloke who was previously never in the frame and not long ago on the Test scrapheap following last year’s Ashes.
“It feels like I’m in the right place at the right time, but it feels like I’ve been playing really well as well,” Harris told Fox Cricket.
“It’s been good not to be the one that’s spoken about too much.
“I knew coming here that if I went OK, I’d put myself in a position to maybe play, the way that things have been going.
“But this season I’ve just been focused on what I need to be focused on.
“I obviously wasn’t in the Test side last summer so I didn’t have that distraction coming into this summer … now I’ve found myself where I am and I feel pretty ready to go.”
Given Pucovski’s history with concussion, dating back to a nasty head knock suffered playing football as a teenager which prevented him from even attending school for six months, concerns over his future extended beyond whether or not he would play in Adelaide.
But the good news is Pucovski is considered a contender for a debut in the second Test in Melbourne.
The prognosis on Green is even better.
“We have taken a conservative approach in managing Will since he sustained the concussion and hope he and David (Warner, groin) will be back to full health ahead of the Boxing Day Test,” said national selector Trevor Hohns.
Labuschagne said that while he would do whatever is best for the team, he would prefer to stay put at No.3.
“I finished last summer at three so hopefully at three,” said Labuschagne, who backed his Queensland teammate Burns to come out the other side of his form slump.
“I spoke to Joe two nights ago. He’s going alright. We’ve all been there where we want it so badly … a few innings isn’t a judgment on a player’s ability and how he’s going.
“I’ve got full faith in Joe if he’s selected.”
Federal Government deals India huge blow
India’s world-class batting maestro Rohit Sharma is set to be refused training privileges when he touches down as Virat Kohli’s mid-tour replacement.
Rohit went AWOL when the Indian squad flew to Australia last month, causing friction with captain Kohli, and the tourists are still paying a heavy price for their superstar run-maker missing that plane.
The Australian Government won’t allow Rohit out of his room to train during his two weeks in quarantine as they permitted his teammates to do, because he will be arriving into Sydney on a commercial flight on his own.
India’s first Test batting hopes did receive a major boost on Saturday, though, as middle-order hopeful Hanuma Vihari (104 not out) carved out an expert century against Australia A’s pink-ball attack, while keeper Rishabh Pant (103 not out) went four, four, six, four, four in the last over of day two to bring up his ton off just 73 balls.
Rohit passed a fitness test on his injured hamstring and will miss the first two Tests, but he now faces an uphill battle to prove himself for the third Test as well, given he won’t emerge from a fortnight of strict lockdown until late December.
The inability to bat in the nets and properly stretch his legs is hardly ideal preparation for an athlete coming off a hamstring injury, particularly given the spate of soft tissue complaints that have plagued Australia and India since their own isolation period following the IPL last month.
David Warner, Aaron Finch, Sean Abbott and Ravi Jadeja among those affected.
Rohit will have just over a week on the outside to prepare for the Sydney Test starting on January 7, but India will be hoping he can belatedly fill the void left when Kohli heads home after the first Test.
“He has been given a detailed program to follow for the duration of the two weeks he will be quarantined for,” said a BCCI statement. “He will be reassessed by the team India medical team post his quarantine to establish his fitness status and a call on his participation in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be taken accordingly.”
Kohli was angry Rohit didn’t fly with the team in the first place, in a move which allowed him to do his rehabilitation with the squad and allow himself training windows while in quarantine.
The man who will take over the captaincy from Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane also followed up a century he made in last week’s opening tour game with another confidence building innings, as India finished day two 4-386, with a lead of 472 runs.
Pant, who was famously invited to baby sit for Tim Paine two summers ago, was 81 at the start of the last Jack Wildermuth over, before putting on a boundary hitting exhibition.
Joe Burns and Marcus Harris will bat on Sunday, even if the declaration isn’t immediate, after
Australian Test squad spinner Mitchell Swepson endured a difficult day out with figures of 1-148 from 29 overs.
India’s 21-year-old star Prithvi Shaw is considered the frontrunner to open in Adelaide, despite a reasonably lean start to his tour.
He is facing pressure from another emerging talent Shubman Gill, who made 65 against Australia A.
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