Australian opener David Warner was ruled out of the Adelaide Test match against India after injuring his groin in the second ODI. He did not play the third ODI game and was not included in the Australian T20I squad as well and returned to his home to nurse the injury.
On the other hand, Will Pucovski’s selection is also not sure after he coped up an injury on his head in the first warm-up game against India A. Meanwhile, former Australian skipper Allan Border has named a replacement for David Warner for the first Test.
Allan Border Names David Warner’s Replacement
Talking to ‘The West Australia’, Border has named Shaun Marsh as his able replacement for the test match given his experience. He has asked the selectors to include Marsh in the playing XI. The 34-year-old has scored three centuries and an 88 in his last six innings for West Australia since October.
“Shaun Marsh could be one of those stop-gap guys given the experience we need at the top of the order” said Allan Border.
Allan Border further said that Marnus Labuschagne could be moved up the order to fit in Marsh in the middle order. Labuschagne can open the innings alongside Marcus Harris if Joe Burns is not included in the playing XI for the Test in Adelaide.
“You could move Marnus Labuschagne up to the top of the order. He’s shown that he can handle the new ball; batting at number three you have to do a bit of that at times. Marcus Harris has been in some good touch; he could be one of those young bolters that could come in and do the job for you,” Border was quoted as saying.
Australian selectors seem to have withdrawn their support from Joe Burns as the first-choice opener. Meanwhile, the second warm-up game between Australia A and India A starts from Friday and one hopes that the Australian selectors will be keeping an eye on this game to identify their openers for the first game.
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