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Australia as said by Head Coach, Andrew McDonald will not be making any changes to their squad for the 2nd Test in Adelaide but Mitchell Marsh’s fitness will be closely monitored amid concerns.
Mitchell Marsh’s fitness will be closely monitored going into the second Test. (Image: AP)
Head Coach, Andrew McDonald has confirmed that Australia would not be making any changes to their squad for the second Test against India, set to be played in Adelaide from December 6 to 10, later next month.
“The people in that change-room (for Perth Test) are the same people that will be in Adelaide,” McDonald was quoted as saying by ‘cricket.com.au‘.
However, the only change that they plan to make is to travel one day earlier than planned in order to get some additional training sessions in before the second Test.
Australia suffered their biggest defeat against India on home soil with Jasprit Bumrah and Co. running riot and taking the win by 295 runs on day 4 at Perth.
The defending WTC champions, Australia were far from their best and have an additional concern with the all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, presenting some fitness concerns.
“Has he (Marsh) pulled up okay? We’ll wait and see,” McDonald said.
“No, we didn’t feel that (was a weakness). We knew that Mitch (Marsh) was slightly underdone coming in, but I thought the performance in the first innings was satisfactory.”
While McDonald was happy with Marsh’s performance, he did mention that the all-rounder’s fitness would be closely monitored. Marsh was amongst Australia’s better performers. With the ball, he picked up three wickets across both innings and with the bat scored a handy 47 in the second innings, albeit a losing cause.
McDonald expressed satisfaction with Marsh’s bowling performance in the first innings but said his fitness would be monitored closely moving forward.
Another major concern for the Aussies is the form of their number three batter, Marnus Labuschagne who has been out of touch for the past few games, averaging just 13.66 in his last 10 Test innings.
But McDonald has backed that he still has faith from the management but would help work with him to ensure he comes back to form.
“That’s an ongoing discussion and that ebbs and flows in players’ careers, so at the moment he’s in one of those patches and no doubt he’ll be getting critiqued externally,” McDonald said.
“But internally we’re really confident that, at his best, he’s the player that we need.”
(with PTI Inputs)
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
