There has been plenty of chatter around the upcoming Delhi Test in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and especially around the Australian team that will take the field at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Australia have plenty of selection headaches and the primary one is to decide if star allrounder Cameron Green gets back into the squad or not. However that will also depend on his fitness and his ability to play spin in the nets.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey feels that Green is progressing really well and may make it to the second test squad after missing out in the Nagpur Test where they were hammered by India. Green’s allround ability and his grit was missing as the Australians crumbled and lost the first test by an innings and 132 runs.
According to Carey, the youngster is making great progress but his selection in the second Test depends on the selectors. Green suffered a finger Injury in their last series against South Africa and hence he failed to make it in time for the series opener against the Indians.
“He’s looking pretty good. I’m not 100 per cent sure (how is progressing) – he’s a fantastic allrounder for the country. It will be nice to see him back soon. How much do you push it, we’ll leave that to the selectors, but he’s looking pretty good,” Carey told about Green to cricket.com.au.
Reports suggest that he trained separately in Nagpur before the squad moved to Delhi for the second Test. It is noted that Green has been bowling and batting with full intensity in training. But during fielding sessions,he is using a softball indicating that he still has the fear of getting hurt and is still not 100 percent.
While the first test defeat must have hurt their morale big time, Carey feel that they have done great in the last one year and feels that the camp is positive and is looking to bounce back in Delhi as they strive to bring back the series on level terms.
“It is the first Test of four and we’re still very positive amongst ourselves that we’ll be able to bounce back in Delhi and get this series back on level (terms) and continue to believe in what we’ve done over the past 12 to 18 months,” he added.
Lastly he shared how they are the top ranked team in the longest format of the game and have most of the bases covered. He feels that the first test did not go to plan but they do have a chance of coming back and feels Delhi is the venue where they can restore parity in the series.
“I think we’re a really strong Test team. We’ve got all bases covered. Unfortunately it didn’t go to plan this first Test, but we’re definitely reinforcing the messages we’ve had leading into the tour,” Carey concluded.
Australia sat on the flight to India having lost only a single game in this World Test Championship cycle. But they were completely bamboozled in the Nagpur Test as Indian spinners ran riot. It looked like they already lost before taking the field as there was too much chatter regarding the pitch and all. Overall the visitors only managed to score 268 runs across both the innings as they got bundled out for a paltry 91 in the second innings.
