India vs Australia: Justin Langer hints at playing more Test regulars in second warm-up game

Add as a preferred source on Google

Bengaluru, December 8: Australia's head coach Justin Langer has dropped hints at playing more more Test players for the second tour match against India, which will be a day-night affair to be played from December 11 to 13 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

As per the initial plans, the Australia team members were expected to leave for Adelaide Oval for the first Test, that begins on December 17, after playing the T20I series and the ongoing first warm-up at Drummoyne Oval, Sydney, which is running till Wednesday (December 8) concurrently with the T20I series.

However, a spate of injuries to some of Australia's top players -- opener David Warner (groin), seamer Josh Hazlewood (back) and spinner Ashton Agar (calf) sidelined -- has forced a rethink of sorts.

Limited overs captain Aaron Finch was ruled out of the second T20 match with a glute problem, while paceman Mitchell Starc was excused from the final two T20 games for personal reasons.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis was recalled for Sunday's match after battling a side strain but did not bowl.

Leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who was preparing to play the ongoing three-day tour game, had to skip it as he received a call to rush to Canberra for the first T20I vs India after Agar injured his calf. He may now play the day-night tour game.

Langer said he had spoken to the Cricket Australia (CA) board about managing the players through the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which forced a complete overhaul of the international schedule.

"I actually addressed the CA board the other day, one of the challenges we've got with such tight schedules ... we've got six injuries now, which is really unusual," Langer was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"We'll obviously review it. That's one of the challenges moving forward, when guys are playing all the tours (and have) different sorts of preparations. Each injury has its own individual reasons but that's one of the challenges. There's other challenges."

Matthew Wade led the side in Finch's absence on Sunday with Australia set to play India in the third and final T20 on Tuesday.

(With inputs from Agencies)