A persistent thumb injury to David Warner could keep him out of the first Test against India.
Australian opener David Warner has yet to feature in either of his side’s warm-up games on the current tour of India. His thumb injury is continuing to cause problems and there are doubts over whether the explosive batsman will play in the first Test in Chennai on Friday.
The Australian coach Mickey Arthur is still hopeful Warner will be ready though.
“We just want to see how Davey Warner comes up over the next day or two,” Arthur said on IBN Live.
“It’s critical that he trains well over the next day or two to play. I’m pretty sure and confident that he’ll come through but he hasn’t faced any quicks yet.”
The fact that Warner hasn’t batted against any fast bowling only a few days before the Test team face India, could be quite worrying for Australian fans. If the opener does fail his fitness test then it is believed Shane Watson will be promoted from number four to partner Ed Cowan.
However there are concerns that if Watson was removed from the middle-order, then the Australians would be very inexperienced in that area.
When questioned on that problem, Arthur told IBN Live, “Potentially through the middle is going to be a real tough time to bat, so you want your most seasoned campaigners in that area.”
Although the Australian coach kept his cards close to his chest when asked about how his team would line up on Friday, he did suggest that seam bowler Moises Henriques had a better chance of playing than the most expensive player at this year’s IPL auction – Glenn Maxwell.
“Moises has done everything right to possibly get a Test match here,” Arthur continued.
“We’ve got to look at what our best opportunity is to take 20 wickets. Maxie has worked extremely hard. I think Maxie has got a huge future.”
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