Will Pucovski and David Warner ready to open

David Warner and Will Pucovski appear set to open at the SCG on Thursday after coach Justin Langer endorsed both players

Will Pucovski, right, and Steve Smith of Australia prepare to bat during an Australian nets session at the Sydney Cricket Ground Picture: Getty Images

Will Pucovski has cleared the last medical hurdle and is ready to debut in Sydney.

The only decision selectors have to make is whether to pick him if he was fit and whether to pick David Warner if he was not.

It’s almost certain they’ll pick both.

There has been no official confirmation of the team, but if Justin Langer’s words are any guide things look good for the pair who have just joined the biosecurity bubble and they do not look that good for Travis Head.

Langer revealed the Pucovski had independent neurological examinations on Monday to check if there is any lasting damage from his ninth concussion.

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The 22-year-old was robbed of the chance of making his debut earlier when he was hit in a tour game in December but is ready to go now.

“He’s been cleared and he’s been cleared by all the medicos,” Langer said. “Obviously all the concussion protocols which we all know are incredibly strict these days, they’ve

all been passed.

“He’s been cleared and that would be very heartening for him. For his family and for everyone involved in it. So he’s been cleared now and if he’s selected. There’s no reason why Will can’t be selected now.

“The real heartening thing for him is whilst he’s had a few concussions in the past and they’ve come in different ways, that it’s not necessarily going to have any long term impact on him.

“You can put your mind at rest with that then that’s a real positive for him.”

Langer has watched Pucovski’s efforts against the short ball closely since his return.

“As he will say, in the last three years, every team he’s played against has bowled a lot of short pitched bowling to him,” he said.

“He’s practised it. He’s hit thousands, and thousands and thousands of short

balls and he got hit the other day.

“He’s in a great frame of mind. He’s incredible positive about playing cricket. He’s trained hard this week and as he and I have discussed a number of times and I’m sure other people have.

“The only way to get back on the horse is to get back on the horse. And he’s the one who ultimately has to make the decision.

“Everyone will have a different opinion on it. He’s the one who has to go out there and face the short pitched bowling. Whether it’s from India or whether it’s from South Australia.

“He’s the one that has to have the courage to get back on the horse. He wants to do that and that’s a really, really positive sign.”

Langer was asked about Travis Head’s prospects, and was not as enthusiastic.

“It’s so hard to fit seven or eight into six,” he said. “Honestly it’s the hardest part of my job – and I guess it’s because my personality – is that someone has to miss out.

“Heady is a good player. He‘s averaging 40 in Test cricket. He’s a really aggressive player in the middle overs, he can take the game away.

“He’s one of the guys currently in the team. Whether that changes for this game, I can’t tell you. We’ve got some decisions to make over the next two days, but he‘s a very, very good player, very well liked and respected amongst the group, but I promise you – fitting seven or eight into six doesn’t usually go.”

Warner seems a certain starter after showing some impressive speed running between the wickets at training on Tuesday.

“He is a little warrior as I have said since day one he is going to do everything possible to be ready, we were hoping for the second Test now we are looking at the third Test,” Langer said before the session.

“He look likes he is moving pretty well, he is very determined to play, he loves the competition, he loves playing test cricket so we will get some final eyes at training this afternoon and make a decision on that, but I would say he is looking very, very, very likely to play in the Test match and then we have got some other decisions to make with our batting order.

“Again we will get some eyes will today, some eyes on all our players and make some decisions probably after the session this afternoon.”

Scoring against the Indian attack – Ravi Ashwin in particular – is the highest priority for the Australians whose run rate is poor and scores even worse. None in the current squad have scored a half century in the series.

“India’s greatest strength over the last couple of series has been their discipline,” Langer said.

“If you look at the last two Test matches, they‘ve been reasonably low scoring games.

“I‘ve loved the last two Tests because the wickets have been a contest between bat and ball. You’ve had to work a bit harder and that’s what Test cricket is all about. I think there’s the factor of the wickets we’ve played on, there’s certainly some seam movement. There was a bit of swing in both of those wickets.

“India have taken a straighter line to a couple of our batters and set the field accordingly. Ravi Ashwin – he‘s taken 380 (375) Test wickets – I think I’m pretty close there.

“He‘s played a lot of cricket, he’s hard to score off. The great bowlers are the ones who are hard to score against – as it is difficult to score quickly off Nathan Lyon.

“And Bumrah is certainly up there at the moment. Ashwin is up there at the moment. we‘re aware of it, we know how we like to play our cricket as Australians, but credit to India – very well planned. We’re aware of that and I’m not too stressed about it.”