Australia go with unchanged team for 2nd Test

Australia had bundled out India for their lowest-ever Test score of 36 in the series-opener in Adelaide which the hosts won convincingly by eight wickets

Melbourne: Australia chief coach Justin Langer on Thursday said the home team will be unchanged for the second Test against India beginning on Saturday unless there is any unexpected event in the next two days.

Australia had bundled out India for their lowest-ever Test score of 36 in the series-opener in Adelaide which the hosts won convincingly by eight wickets.

Langer said he’d have to be “pretty courageous” to make any changes to a side that dished out such a dominating performance.

“I’d be a pretty courageous man to change the XI for this Test match after the last one,” Langer said during a virtual media conference.

“At this stage, unless something happens over the next few days – and things can happen in the world we live in – we’ll go in with the same XI, I’d say.”
Australia were left to deal with a spate of injuries in the run-up to the series with David Warner out of the first two games due to a groin injury and the young Will Pucovski’s debut getting delayed due to a concussion that he suffered during the warm-up games.

All-rounder Cameron Green too had suffered a concussion during the second warm-up game but made it to the first Test, while pacer Sean Abbott has recently recovered from a calf injury but was ruled out of the Boxing Day game due to Covid-19 quarantine protocols.

With Warner still not fit, Joe Burns and Matthew Wade are likely to get another chance of opening the innings and Langer said the competition will hold Australian cricket in good stead.

“That’s all part of the journey of every individual player, you’re literally under the pump every time you play for Australia. Every player is, that’s how it should be … it’s so healthy for Australian cricket,” he said.

“It’s tough when you’re in the top 6 batters because you’ve always got people knocking hard on the door to take your spot. So you got to be on the toes all the time.”

Meanwhile Langer has praised his team’s Test captain Tim Paine for his performance and leadership, calling him their “most important player”. Langer, however, added that Adam Gilchrist remains the best-ever wicketkeeper-batsman for transforming the game of cricket.

Paine scored an unbeaten 73 against India in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval, rescuing his side from a precarious situation of 111/7 in first innings and taking it to 191, just 53 runs short of India’s total of 244. Australia then bundled out India for mere 36 in the second innings and went on to win the match by eight wickets.

“You think of Adam Gilchrist, I guess who transformed the game in a sense. That is why Gilchrist is an all-time great player because he transformed the game,” Langer said.

“I have got enormous faith in Tim Paine, whether it is his wicket-keeping, batting and I have said publicly and privately last year that he is our most important player. Because he is our lead wicketkeeper, his leadership on and off the field is incredible and we saw how he can play. He batted very well in the first innings under pressure…He is a great player, great leader and I love having him in our team,” he added.

“Paine has made some good contributions, had very important partnerships. During the Ashes and the summer last year. I don’t lose sleep over him,” the head coach further said.

Chetan Sharma appointed chairman of selectors

Ahmedabad: Former India pacer Chetan Sharma was on Thursday appointed chairman of the senior national selection panel by the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked Abbey Kuruvilla and Debashis Mohanty in the five-member team.

The selection panel also has former India players Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh. Sharma is a former player who represented India in 23 Tests and 65 ODIs during an 11-year-old international career, the highlight of which was his hat-trick in the 1987 World Cup. At the age of 16, Sharma started playing first-class cricket for Haryana and made his Test debut aged 18, a year after making his ODI debut against the West Indies in December 1983.
As per the BCCI constitution, the candidate with the most Test caps becomes the chief selector.

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