Matt Kuhnemann has become Australia’s 466th men’s Test cricketer with the tourists taking a gamble with a rare three-spinner bowling attack for the crucial clash with India at Delhi.
The left-arm orthodox spinner only joined the 18-man touring squad earlier this week after fellow Queenslander Mitchell Swepson returned home for the birth of his first child and was presented with his baggy green cap in a pre-match ceremony by another state teammate, Marnus Labuschagne.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins, who won the toss and elected to bat, confirmed Travis Head has been recalled to bat in the middle order ahead of Matt Renshaw, who made just a duck and two in the first Test drubbing at Nagpur.
Matthew Kuhnemann is congratulated after receiving his baggy green cap. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green have failed in their bid to make a return from finger injuries while fellow quick Josh Hazlewood (Achilles) was also left out.
Scott Boland, who bowled well without taking a wicket in Nagpur, has made way for Kuhnemann.
Cummins will likely share the new ball with Nathan Lyon or Todd Murphy, who took seven wickets on debut last week, or Labuschagne – who has bowled medium pace for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield – could also be given a trundle before the spinners take over.
“The middle [of the pitch] looks like it’s got a little bit of grass but it’s pretty bare at both ends so I’m guessing there will be a bit of turn there so it’ll be a good challenge for our team,” Cummins said after calling correctly at the toss.
“We’ve all lost games before and had to bounce back so that’s the challenge for the group this week. It has been a really good preparation, everyone’s raring to go.”
Kuhnemann has come from the clouds to overtake fellow left-armer Ashton Agar in the pecking order but the 26-year-old has a solid record at Shield level with 35 wickets from 13 matches at 34.8 and he got a taste of international cricket last year in July when he played four ODIs on the tour of Sri Lanka.
“We feel the pitch here, the conditions, that spin will dominate the game once again and from what we understand this pitch has been used three times already this year and there’s already substantial cracking in the areas where most of the game is going to be played,” selector Tony Dodemaide told reporters after the team was announced.
“Heady does offer quite a valuable option as a fifth bowler and that’s where we felt we were stretched in parts of the game in Nagpur and that fifth bowling option is something that we value, albeit another spinner.”
Australia have not gone into a Test with three frontline spinners since the tour of Bangladesh six years ago when Lyon, Agar and Steve O’Keefe teamed up with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell also chiming in with his offies.
Matt Kuhnemann. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Veteran opener David Warner has been retained despite his subpar record in India which got worse last week with twin failures of one and 10 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener.
Head’s omission from the first Test was controversial with the likes of former Test captain Steve Waugh and The Roar columnist Damien Fleming saying they were perplexed by the decision to drop the in-form left-hander despite his poor record in Asian conditions.
India have made just one change with middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer returning from a back injury to replace Suryakumar Yadav at No.5 for what will be Cheteshwar Pujara’s 100th Test.
The Indians have not lost at Arun Jaitley Stadium since 1987 – only Aussie openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja were alive from this week’s teams when the home side last tasted defeat in Delhi against Viv Richards’ all-conquering West Indies.
Australian XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (v-c), Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Todd Murphy, Matt Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon.
India XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.
Dodemaide defends picking injured duo for tour
Australia’s selectors have copped plenty of criticism for their decision to include Starc and Green in the touring party when they will only be available to play in the final two Tests.
Starc and Green, who both suffered finger injuries in the Boxing Day Test win over South Africa, were ruled out of making a comeback in game two of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Delhi.
“We don’t have the seam bowling option of Cam on the table quite yet,” Dodemaide told reporters prior to day one’s play. “We’re very confident and hope he’s continuing to progress and we expect him to be available for the third Test in Indore.
“We brought them (Green and Starc) over to India in the expectation they’d be available. Starc and Greeny didn’t quite come up for this one, but we fully expect them to be online for the third one.”
The third Test gets underway at Indore on March 1 before the series finale at Ahmedabad on March 9.
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments