Will Pucovski Should Be Ready For The Bouncer Barrage Against India: Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has said that young Australian opener Will Pucovski should be ready for a consistent short-ball barrage by the Indian fast bowlers, should he play in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval, starting December 17.

Will Pucovski was primed to take up one of the opener’s slot following his exploits in the Sheffield Shield where he scored back-to-back double-hundreds. However, his participation in the first Test has come in jeopardy after he suffered the 9th concussion of his short career after copping a blow on the head courtesy a bouncer by Kartik Tyagi in the first warm-up game.

Gavaskar said that he expects India to dish the short-pitch stuff consistently to Pucovski besides adding that Mohammed Shami has got as good a bouncer as he has ever seen.

”Definitely. I think you would expect that to happen. Once you enter the ground whether it’s playing for your country, or even playing for your state or club, you’re going to cop it.” Sunil Gavaskar told the Sydney Telegraph.

“If the word is that you’re not really comfortable against a particular delivery, you’re going to get a lot of it,” he added. “I don’t see India easing up because he’s had a history of concussion,” he added. He’s got as good a bouncer as any I’ve seen,” Gavaskar added.

Meanwhile, Pat Cummins has backed Will Pucovski to rise to the challenge, adding that the young batsman has shown in domestic cricket in the past 2 seasons that he can handle the short-ball well.

”For someone like Will, he has been hearing that for a couple of years and scoring two double centuries, back-to-back (in the Sheffield Shield) he can handle that pretty well,” Pat Cummins said.

“Of course (short bowling) is a weapon we like to use, here in Australia there are slightly bouncier wickets and we try to push the batter back. But I can’t see it being too much of a headline-grabber this summer.” he added.

Will Pucovski, meanwhile, has stayed back in Sydney while the rest of the Australian squad has moved to Adelaide for the opening Test.

Also Read- Justin Langer Talks About The Time When He Nearly Stepped Down As The Coach Of Australia