Blow For Australia As David Warner Is Ruled Out Of 1st Test Against India

Australia have suffered a huge blow ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series against India with their star opener David Warner out of the first Test. The left-handed batsman will miss the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series due to the groin injury he had sustained during the second ODI last month.

He has been sidelined since then. The Australia star had sustained the injury while fielding in the second half of the match. Before that, he had scored fifties in both the ODIs, helping Australia win the three-match series. The hosts have definitely missed the presence of their veteran batsman as they lost the last ODI as well as the first two T20Is before registering a consolation win on Tuesday.

Australia will be hoping that David Warner returns to action at the earliest and the southpaw is hopeful of making a return in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The 34-year old said that he has made a ‘great progress’ but is yet to reach a satisfactory level.

“I feel I have made great progress in a short amount of time and it’s best for me to stay here in Sydney to continue working on getting back to full fitness,” David Warner said.

“The injury feels a lot better, but I need to be able to satisfy in my own mind and to my team-mates that it is 100 per cent ready for Test match conditions.

“That includes running between the wickets and being agile in the field. Right now, I feel I am short of being able to play at peak fitness and another 10 days will make a difference,” he added.

Missing David Warner will be huge blow for the hosts who are looking to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar series for the first time since 2017. Australia had lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on home soil two years ago without their dynamic opening batter and No.4 Steve Smith.

Meanwhile, the news comes less than 24 hours after Test aspirant Will Pucovski was hit on the helmet late on day three of Australia A’s tour match against an Indian XI, which left him displaying mild concussion symptoms. The blow has already ruled the 22-year-old out of the three-day pink ball tour match starting Friday.

His chances of playing the first Test in Adelaide is also in doubt. Joe Burns, who had opened alongside Warner during Australia’s last home season, is the only other specialist opener in the Test squad.

Australia Test squad:

Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

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