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Desperate Australia ready to play even '90% fit' David Warner at SCG


Under pressure after the defeat at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test, the Australian side is desperate to plug holes in their batting order. For that, they need David Warner at the top to set the tone, in order to provide a platform to the pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to dictate terms to the opposition bowling attack. 

Warner is recovering from the groin injury he suffered in the ODI series against India and has been included for the third Test at the SCG. There are few doubts on the status of his recovery, but Australian think tank has suggested that the left-hander will be included in the XI even with 90-95 per cent of fitness, in case Warner himself feels ready to go to the field. Australia assistant coach Andre McDonald has hinted that the head coach Justin Langer will have a word with the southpaw to assess where he is in terms of readiness for the third Test.

"Look, if he's 90-95% fit and the conversation is that he's fit enough to be able to go out there and perform his duties for the team, then I'm sure that'll be a conversation the coach has with the player. Most times Justin (Langer) is pretty open with the players in terms of giving them accountability around that," McDonald said.

Although McDonald neither confirmed the availability of Warner for the SCG Test nor he ruled him out in case of inadequate preparation before heading to the game, he said: "He's very optimistic that he should be ready to go, which is great news for us. We are really excited to have him back. I'm sure that he's excited to come back into the group as well. There's nothing worse than being injured when you are at the top of your game as David has been over a period of time."

The Australian team has another riddle to solve at the top of the order as Will Pucovski is returning after suffering a concussion in the tour game before the series began and McDonald confirmed he will debut if the right-hander passes all process necessity to validate his recovery from concussion.

"He will be put through tests whatever it needs to be put through to make himself available for selection to potentially open the batting. So it's good to have a little bit of depth out there," McDonald said.

The hosts have failed to go past the 200 run-mark in both the Tests and a lot of it can be attributed to the slump in form for the team’s mainstay in the batting—Steve Smith. Smith has looked a pale shadow of himself, and Indian bowlers have been able to affect the mental aspect of his batting, along with challenging his technique with astute tactics and field placements. But McDonald is not too perturbed at him getting out cheaply as he believes the right-hander is batting very well in the nets, although Smith has not reached the double-digit score in all the four previous innings.

"I wouldn't be too quick to be judging Steve Smith not looking good in the middle. He looks pretty solid and hitting the ball well at the nets," McDonald said.

There will be changes to Indian playing XI as well as Umesh Yadav who had walked off the field with an injury in his calf muscle and may well be replaced by one among Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan.

The third Test between Australia and India is scheduled to start on January 07 at the iconic SCG.

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