Australia have been struggling on and off the field during their ongoing tour of India. Their batters have been struggling to find answers to the guile of Indian spinners with their poor shot selection grabbing the headlines and as a result, their hopes of winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy have gone for a toss with India taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Off the field, they have been fighting an injury crisis. They flew to India with their two key players – Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green – dealing with fitness concerns. Hazlewood has since been ruled out from the entire tour without having played in a single match while Green is expected to be fit for the third Test.
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Another key bowler Mitchell Starc linked up with the squad for the Delhi Test but wasn’t played as Australia opted for a three-pronged spin attack.
Australia captain Pat Cummins has flown back home to deal with a family medical concern. While it’s expected Cummins will be back in time for the Indore Test slated to get underway from March 1, vice-captain Steve Smith has been kept on the standby in case he’s needed to lead the team, cricket.com.au reports.
Legspinner Mitchell Swepson will be back with the Test squad after having returned home for the birth of his child last week. Australia have given debuts to two spinners during the tour including Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann.
However, the biggest blow to Australia has come in the form of opener David Warner being ruled out of the remaining two Tests due to elbow fracture.
There are also reports that Australia might trim their Test squad in India with the likes of Matt Renshaw and Ashton Agar to be released should they not fit into their plans for the remainder of the series.
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With Warner out of the picture, there are murmurs of a surprise call-up to Glenn Maxwell whose hopes of making a cut were ended due to a broken leg.
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