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Questions over Aussies' Boxing Day XI

Another win, but injuries and form leave unknowns ahead of third Commonwealth Bank Test

With a two-nil series advantage and one hand gripping the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia prepares for the nation’s premier day of Test cricket with a spring in their step and a couple of concerns in the back of their minds.

Likewise, their Indian opponents have taken heart from performances that could – with a sliver of luck and a tad more acumen – have seen them snare a win or possibly two, but have little time to resurrect the spirit that must have been sapped during two disastrous sessions at the Gabba.

As a consequence, there is good reason to believe that Boxing Day at the MCG will deliver the sort of keenly fought contest between two fiercely-competitive and evenly-matched teams that the occasion surely deserves.

The first question the Australians must answer in the five days until the third Commonwealth Bank Test begins is who will be in their XI?

The revised squad will be announced in Brisbane tomorrow, where the final day of the second Test was supposed to be played out until an incisive Mitchell Johnson spell brought about its abrupt end a day early.

Some of the selectors’ decisions will be made in conjunction with the medical staff.

Allrounder Mitchell Marsh must be considered an unlikely starter having tweaked a hamstring while bowling on the opening day at the Gabba, an injury that prevented him from taking the field during the remainder of the match apart from a couple of abbreviated appearances with the bat.

A doctor’s report will also adjudicate on whether opener David Warner will take his place after he was struck flush on the left thumb while batting in Australia’s victory chase today with further examination to determine the extent of damage he suffered.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith was not able to shed much light on the pair’s prognosis as he basked in the glory of his perfect Test captaincy record and another man-of-the-match gong last night.

“He (Warner) is a tough little character so I suppose he’ll be pretty eager to get stuck in on Boxing Day,” Smith said of his in-form opener.

“Mitch Marsh was struggling a bit yesterday and struggling with his running today as well, so I think the physio and doctor will have a look at him over the next couple of days and make a decision on where we need to go with him from there.”

The case for replacements should either or both of those under a fitness cloud would appear reasonably straightforward.

Should Warner fail to make muster for the Australian Test calendar’s gala day, then Tasmanian opener Ed Cowan who has been in hot form in the first half of the Bupa Sheffield Shield season looms as the logical inclusion.

And while the bowling efforts of Shane Watson in Brisbane – he bowled almost 30 overs in Brisbane which is the heaviest Test workload he has taken on in years – further the case for a specialist batsman to replace Mitchell Marsh, Smith indicated he would fancy an auxiliary allrounder.

Which would place Tasmania’s James Faulkner or Smith’s New South Wales teammate Moises Henriques squarely in the frame.

“I think it’s very handy to have two batters in the top six that can bowl very good overs for you,” Smith said when asked if would be making clear his preference to replace Marsh with another allrounder if he is ruled out.

“Mitch, before he got injured, was bowling around 140kph and Shane with the ball that was doing a little bit hit outstanding areas and really built some pressure.

“So it’s nice to have two bowlers like that in your top six who can take the loads off at times.

“But that’s a matter for the selectors - I’ll do whatever I can with the team I’m given.”

The potential for two enforced changes in an XI that has recorded two impressive wins in the series to date despite being pushed to the line for all but a few sessions in Adelaide and Brisbane will doubtless ease the pressure on other players.

But Watson, who was dismissed without scoring today and whose average in the pivotal No.3 role in this series is 18, will be looking to convert a start into a score of substance at the venue where he made his breakthrough maiden Test century against Pakistan five years ago.

Similarly Brad Haddin, who enjoyed another outstanding Test match with the ‘keeping gloves in which he equalled the Australian record for the most dismissals in a Test innings (six) and backed up with three more in the second, needs runs to quell any whispers about his tenure.

The 37-year-old, who has lost the vice-captaincy to Smith but remains the team’s deputy while Michael Clarke is out injured, was caught for one as Australia closed in on victory today which means he has not reached 25 in his past 13 Test innings – although two of those were undefeated knocks.

Not that Smith believes there are batting issues to be addressed even though his top order – with the notable exception of himself and opener Chris Rogers who posted a half century in each innings – didn’t fire as hoped at the Gabba.

“The boys were going after them to try and get the runs pretty quickly tonight so I think there’s no hiccups there at all,” he said after the Australians had slumped to 6-122 in pursuit of their nominal target of 128.

“Everyone’s in good form and hitting the ball well so hopefully some more good performances in Melbourne.”

India skipper MS Dhoni gave a similarly fulsome appraisal of his team’s efforts in a Test they held in the palm of their hands for the first two days, only to let it slip with some undisciplined bowling at Australia’s tail yesterday and a forgettable first session today.

Dhoni believes that, as a comparatively young side, his team simply needs of a few line-ball umpiring decisions to fall in their favour and for all the ingredients that he believes are working well individually to fuse together.

Which is why – even though they are without a win with this series half done – he does not see similarities to India’s previous Australian tour in 2012 that resulted in a four-nil whitewash.

Dhoni was especially effusive about the improvement in his bowling attack which has claimed all 10 Australian wickets just once in this series to date, and the spark brought by speedster Varun Aaron who has regularly clocked more than 140kph in the opening two Tests.

“He (Aaron) does go for runs but it is exciting to see someone from India bowling at good pace and using the bouncer to get the opposition out,” Dhoni said at the completion of the Test this evening.

“The exciting part is we have competed.

“The last time (India toured Australia) we were not really able to compete.

“It’s like a wine that’s brewing – we just need to give it a bit more time.”

Dhoni’s upbeat assessment of a team that has recorded one win from its nine Test matches so far this year indicates that wholesale changes are unlikely.

Although batsman Rohit Sharma’s continued inability to convert his starts into a score above 50 means he holds his place as much for his occasional off-spin as for his contributions at No.6.

The India skipper was not so charitable about the practice nets at the Gabba, which the tourists claimed were “worn out” and responsible for two of their batsmen – Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli – being struck while warming up prior to play beginning today.

Dhoni did his best to deliver a diplomatic response about his view on the state of the practice facilities, which Smith claimed he found no problem with and on which both teams will train tomorrow in lieu of the early Test finish.

“I don’t really want to create a controversy but it can certainly improve,” Dhoni said of the Gabba nets.

Which was the same advice he had for the on-field umpires in this series to date.

Although the India skipper did point out his concern lay with those “50-50 decisions (that) are not going in our favour” rather than the absence of the Decision Review System in Test matches involving the India team.