Facing a major first-innings deficit, Australia wants to provide a batting miracle on day three to maintain the Nagpur Test alive.
The Aussies had been thwarted by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on day two as his hundred powered the house facet to a commanding place.
Debutant Todd Murphy took the primary 4 wickets to briefly give Australia hope it may keep within the recreation with solely 177 on the board within the first innings.
But Sharma’s heroics put India in pole place to take a 1-0 lead within the four-match collection and its bowlers will probably be aiming to make the most of a batting line-up nonetheless reeling from a day one collapse.
Follow each key second reside beneath with News Corp cricket author Ben Horne.
Selectors thought of the deserves of playing on Travis Head as a gap batsman for this collection, and revisiting the unconventional plan is likely to be his solely avenue again in India.
Australia’s gorgeous determination to axe Head for the primary Test has been put beneath a searing microscope, notably given the left-hander most popular over him, Matthew Renshaw, was out for a golden duck and has now suffered a knee damage.
Renshaw handed a health check after scans and returned to the sphere within the center session on day two, however even when he was to be dominated out of the second Test, Head would possibly battle to get his place again within the middle-order with all-rounder Cameron Green a sure inclusion if match.
Therefore Head’s fundamental likelihood of a reprieve is likely to be if within the again finish of this collection, circumstances immediate selectors to contemplate reinventing him as a swashbuckling opener.
News Corp revealed again in December that selectors had not dominated out Head as an possibility on the high of the order, particularly in India, the place he may assault from the get-go and never fear about getting slowed down in defending in opposition to the spinners.
National Selector George Bailey hinted after the Brisbane Test, when Head made a matchwinning 92 on a treacherous Gabba deck, that Australia is likely to be keen to assume outdoors the sq. with the star left-hander in India.
“Pat (captain Pat Cummins) is driving this team (to) being very, very adaptable,” Bailey mentioned again in December.
“So I think there’s opportunities for players in the XI to play different roles at different times as well.
“So whether that’s the same for Travis in subcontinent tours. (We’ll) wait and see.”
It’s troublesome to see selectors making any rash strikes on veteran openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja mid-series.
When the veteran pair completed the house summer season with huge tons of, it made the Head as opener plan unlikely.
But Fox Cricket knowledgeable and former Australian nice Brad Haddin believes transferring Head up the order may need been a wiser name than dropping him when he’d been arguably the Test group’s No. 1 batsman throughout the summer season.
“You can understand why they’ve left him out. They don’t trust him the way he starts against spin,” Haddin mentioned.
“But the one thing they could have done is put him up the order to take the game on. Because if he’s set and spin comes on then he’s a much different player.”
Win, lose or attract Nagpur it will be unlikely for selectors to make additional modifications until pressured by damage or Green coming back from damage.
Coach Andrew McDonald and Tony Dodemaide are the selectors on responsibility in India.
But relying on how the collection progresses, maybe consideration is likely to be given to transferring Khawaja or Warner down the order to accommodate an attacking weapon like Head on the high.
At age 36, Warner and Khawaja could have seemingly entered their final 12 months in Test cricket, however it will be uncommon for gamers of their expertise and sophistication to be shifted out of the line-up mid-series.
Test nice Ricky Ponting defended selectors over the controversial name to drop Head.
“The more I thought about it, the fact that they played Matt Renshaw in Sydney to me meant they probably had other plans in mind for him,” Ponting mentioned on the ICC Review Podcast.
“Obviously, the most immediate plan was for him to bat in the middle order for Australia in this Test series against India.
“And when you look at that, if they’re going to keep him in, they couldn’t really afford to keep Travis Head in either because then they would have five left-handers in their top seven.”
Other Test greats together with Steve Waugh, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Kerry O’Keeffe have questioned the choice to dispense with Head with out even permitting him an opportunity to point out his wares in India.
Originally revealed as Australia v India, first Test day three: Follow all of the motion reside from Nagpur
Source: www.news.com.au
