Australia v India First Test: vice-captain Mitch Marsh dropped, Peter Handscomb in

Australia drops vice-captain Mitch Marsh for the first Test against India | TEAM LIST

Mitch Marsh has been dropped for the first test against India.

Vice captain Mitchell Marsh has been dropped for the Adelaide Test and sent back to Sheffield Shield cricket with captain Tim Paine saying the all-rounder has not been consistent enough in recent matches.

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Peter Handscomb will take his place and bat at No 4 in the series opener starting at Adelaide Oval tomorrow.

Marcus Harris will make his debut tomorrow at Adelaide Oval.

Marcus Harris will make his debut as opener, becoming Australia’s 456th male Test cricketer.

“Mitch Marsh probably just hasn’t been as consistent as we would like and he would like,” Paine said.

“We know the talent that Mitch has and that most likely at some stage in this series we will need him so we are taking the opportunity to send him back to play a Shield game and get more cricket under his belt.”

The Australians are confident they can bowl India out on an Adelaide wicket that has a bit of life without the help of the all-rounder.

“I think the wicket over the last few years here has given enough throughout the game,” Paine said.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Nathan Lyon bowling a lot of overs if we need. And, the fact is all our three quicks go in really fresh so we have a lot of confidence in them, particularly at the start of the series.

Marsh has had a poor run since the second Test in South Africa and scored just 30 runs in four innings against Pakistan. A 151 on return to Sheffield Shield was followed by diminishing returns in the following matches.

AUSTRALIA XI: Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

INDIA XII: Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrahmp (one to be omitted)