'He won't be bowling in first Test, next week is really important' - Pat Cummins sheds light on Cameron Green's fitness

Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins had his say about the availability of Cameron Green ahead of the first Test against India on 9th February at Nagpur. The 23-year-old batting all-rounder suffered a finger injury during the home Test series against the Proteas and is unlikely to get a place in the playing XI of the Kanpur Test. 

Green made his debut for the Aussies during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Since then, he has been vital to Australia’s Test fortunes due to his consistency. He not only acts as a third seam bowler but also provides depth to the batting order. His performance also landed him a bumper IPL contract of ₹17.50 crore with Mumbai Indians.

Cummins said that the team will stop focusing for a while on Green's potential inclusion as he is unlikely to bowl in the first Test.  “I know he won’t be bowling (in the first Test). The next week’s obviously really important," the Australian skipper told Fox Sports.

"He hasn’t been able to do a lot yet. I think the nature of that particular injury is once it comes good, it comes good really quickly. Hopefully, we’re at that stage where the next week, it really does improve a lot," Cummins added.

With Green’sexclusion, Australia will have to look upon various options to set up their bowling section against the Asian Giants. There are four spinners included in the squad with the likes of Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, and Todd Murphy.

“I doubt that’s kind of an option for the first Test, but we’ll wait and see with the conditions. Again, you look at our team, players like Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, they’re top class bowlers, so even though it might be spinning conditions, it’s hard to bet against those guys not doing a fantastic job," Cummins further added.

India and Australia are scheduled to play four Test matches in the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Nagpur, Delhi, Dharamsala, and Ahmedabad.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store