India Tour of Australia : “We’ve got six injuries now” – Australia to review plans ahead of Test series as injuries continue to haunt them

India Tour of Australia : “We’ve got six injuries now” – Australia to review plans ahead of Test series as injuries continue to haunt them

Australia Test Team

Justin Langer
Justin Langer

As India and Australia gear up to clash in the much anticipated Border Gavaskar series, injuries continue to haunt the hosts. While David Warner remains uncertain for the series opener in Adelaide following the groin strain, Josh Hazlewood was left out of the second T20I with back soreness. And Mitchell Starc being on compassionate leave due to a family illness, Australia are looking to change their preparation plans ahead of the Test series. Coach Justin Langer suggests, that most of the Test squad will be featuring in the pink-ball warm-up game against the Indians at the SCG in the wake of injuries and absences.

“With injuries, we weren’t expecting Davey, for example, to get injured like he did, so we are having a close look at that,” Langer was quoted by ESPNCricinfo. “The best practice, I’ve said for years, is centre-wicket and the chance to play a pink-ball game against India under lights is certainly a very tempting preparation for a few of our players. We are looking at that.“

“I actually addressed the CA board the other day, one of the challenges we’ve got with such tight schedules … we’ve got six injuries now, which is really unusual. We’ll obviously review it. That’s one of the challenges moving forward, when guys are playing all the tours [and have] different sorts of preparations.“

Langer defends decision of resting Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins

Australia have rested the number 1 Test bowler of the world Pat Cummins since the second ODI. And the decision has attracted harsh criticism for the team management. Langer went on to defend the decision as he pointed out that the break was much needed in this era of bio bubbles.

He adds that Cummins wouldn’t have been able to meet his family until June if not for the break. The former Australia batsman goes on to adds that workload management is a big issue for players playing all three formats. And with a jam-packed waiting for the Kangaroos up ahead, Langer hailed the break essential.

“Some of the simplicity of our past lives isn’t quite there,” he said. “There has to be isolation and we can’t do that. We are always considering the big picture here, we know that we’ve got a big Test series coming up – there’s been a lot of talk about Pat not playing but we’ve known we’ve had to manage this throughout.“

“If he hadn’t spent a few days at home in this little period he might not have gone home until June next year, so for any of the critics out there imagine not going home for that period of time. One we couldn’t bring him and back two we didn’t consider if because we’ve got to manage him to make sure we are ready for the Test series,” he adds.

In the ongoing first tour game, Australia A are in a commanding position at the end of day 2 following Cameron Green‘s brilliant hundred. For India A, Cheteswar Pujara made a half-century before skipper Ajinkya Rahane struck a resilient ton.

Also read : Michael Vaughan lauds India for T20 series win without Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma