Pucovski's head knock casts cloud over Test hopes

The short-term playing future of Australia cricket's rising star Will Pucovski is again clouded following the head knock suffered by the 22-year-old in the closing moments of a tour match that has left him with mild concussion.

Pucovski had reached 23 when he was hit a glancing blow on the front of his protective batting helmet by 20-year-old Indians quick Kartik Tyagi playing just his second first-class game.

The right-hander, who seemed destined for a much-awaited Test debut later this month after suffering a series of concussions throughout his career, fell to his knees and remained on all fours at the crease for more than a minute.

Image Id: 7B7A8BBBF69F45C7832950A887DC22DE Image Caption: Pucovski was hit flush on the front of his helmet // Getty

He was surrounded by concerned rivals and batting partner Marcus Harris before being attended by Dettol Medical Team doctor John Orchard and other medical staff before he was able to walk, unaided, from the field.

Pucovski later walked to the team bus in conversation with Victorian teammate James Pattinson, but Orchard confirmed the opener won't travel to Adelaide tomorrow with other members of the Australia Test squad.

The injury has also delayed the naming of the Australia A squad for the final pre-Test warm-up game against India starting at the SCG on Friday, which selectors had hoped to finalise at the conclusion of today’s match at Drummoyne Oval.

Image Id: B9045B0E03CA44D09A3F6933635F36A4 Image Caption: Pucovski retired hurt and was escorted off the ground // Getty

"Will experienced mild concussion symptoms but was able to leave the field unassisted," Orchard said in a statement.

"He was monitored in our medical room and was communicating freely with staff and teammates as well as family over the phone.

"We will continue to monitor Will over the coming days and provide an update on his condition in due course.

“Will will remain with the Australia A squad but will not play in the three-day tour match against India at the SCG."

The game was formally called off several overs after Pucovski retired hurt with Australia A 1-52 having been set a notional target of 131 off 15 overs, as the result was overshadowed by concerns for the Victorian's health.

With the opening Test of the Vodafone Series due to begin at Adelaide Oval in eight days, the opener is now in doubt given he has missed significant stretches of cricket in past years due to repeated concussions.

The previous incident came during a one-day game for a Cricket Australia XI against England Lions last February when Pucovski fell while attempting a run and substituted out of the match.

He did not play another senior game for the remainder of the summer.

"He’s up, around, communicating clearly," Australia A fast bowler Mark Steketee said after stumps.

"The doc’s obviously going to keep an eye on him in over the next 24 hours.

"But he’s in the changerooms and seems pretty well so far.

"Bouncers are part of the game, but you never want someone to get hurt."

It cast a pall over a game in which Steketee had bowled Australia A to the cusp of a win and his Queensland teammate Michael Neser gave a glimpse of how Australia might tackle India's run machine Cheteshwar Pujara.

Amid a spectacular mid-innings collapse by the Indians who fielded a rump of the batting line-up they're expected to take into the opening Test at Adelaide starting December 17, Neser gave a glimpse into the plans Australia will employ against India's batting mainstay, Cheteshwar Pujara.

As the rock upon which India's historic Test series win was founded two summers ago, Pujara has bewildered the bowling plans of rivals searching for a way through his seemingly infallible defence.

But after a carefully-hatched plan ended the India veteran's first innings for 54 on the game's opening day, it was a legacy of that strategy that brought an even more meaningful result today.

Pujara was not only dismissed for a duck, he was clean bowled by Neser who angled a ball into the obdurate right-hander and saw it straighten sufficiently to tilt back off-stump.

The delight shown by Australia A keeper (and Test skipper) Tim Paine who clapped his gauntlets and performed a mini-jig contrasted starkly to the disbelieving batter who stared down at the pitch before repeating the stroke to a slightly different line before trudging off.

According to former Australia Test keeper Brad Haddin, who observed Pujara's eight-ball stay from the live-stream television commentary cabin, today's dismissal had its genesis in the ploy used by Australia A two days earlier.

"The way they bowled to him in the first innings, between his thigh pad and just under his arm with the leg-side field worried him," Haddin said.

"I thought it made him second-guess his feet a little bit in that first innings, and we saw in the second innings they set the same trap and he just got caught on the crease.

"Maybe that's something the Australians will look at in that first Test.

"We know he does play the ball really late and that's all you need to do sometimes, create a little bit of doubt in a batsman's technique and their footwork just to bring a false shot."

India's Test line-up should prove a vastly different proposition with the inclusion of their combative captain Virat Kohli who will return from white-ball duties for the second warm-up game at the SCG starting Friday.

However, Australia would have seen enough in the way their all-seam attack dominated on a bouncy Drummoyne pitch – particularly in the difficulties the Indians showed in dealing with Steketee's short deliveries – to formulate their Test plans.

Despite holding a 39-run lead and with no spare batter in the sheds, Australia A continued their innings for 10 overs this morning and added 20 runs to their total as star allrounder Cameron Green pushed his personal tally from 114 to 125 not out.

The Indians' openers then made a more substantial start to their team's second time at bat, which was scarcely a revelation given both Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill were dismissed for ducks on Sunday morning.

Shaw is tipped to partner Mayank Agarwal against Australia's new-ball attack in the Vodafone Series, and would have been eyeing a stay of some length in bright, sunny conditions ahead of the day-night fixture that completes the tourists' Test preparations.

That ambition vanished in the seventh over of the innings when the pint-sized Shaw, whose previous Test visit to Australia ended prematurely with an ankle injury sustained in a warm-up game, became the first of the Indians' batter to be undone by the life in the Drummoyne pitch.

Australia A skipper Travis Head's decision to bring Green into the attack paid immediate dividends as the right-arm quick dug in the fifth delivery of the day and the Indians opener steered a head-high catch to gully.

In his third over, Green removed Shaw's opening partner using a similar ploy, with Gill failing to get over an ambitious cut shot that flew high to Steketee's right at point.

With Green's dual strike coming either side of Pujara's wicket, the Indians' batting was suddenly reliant on skipper Ajinkya Rahane who had posted an unbeaten century in the first innings.

In partnership with fellow Test batter Hanuma Vihari, Rahane dropped anchor as the pair added 54 from almost 22 overs before Vihari edged to Burns at first slip.

But it was when Neser left the field shortly after to seek attention for what appeared to be a nose bleed, Steketee took the ball and altered the day's seemingly predictable course.

In the first over of his spell that eventually stretched to nine overs either side of the tea break, he had Rahane lbw from a ball that ducked in late and caught the Indians captain on the crease.

Next over he surprised Ravi Ashwin with a short delivery the spinner was only able to bunt back to the bowler, and an over later produced a similarly sharp bouncer that Kuldeep Yadav fended to slip.

At that stage, India had lost 3-10 since Steketee was re-introduced, and the slump became 5-24 in just 10 overs when the Queenslander shot out rival pace bowlers Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj in his second over after the tea break.

It delivered the 25-year-old a remarkable return of 5-16 from 32 balls, and left him eyeing a career-best first-class haul potentially bettering the 5-19 he claimed 5-19 for the Bulls against Tasmania in the Marsh Sheffield Shield competition last summer.

He ultimately finished with 5-32 from 15 overs and sizeable satisfaction in knowing that, in a summer where injuries and issues relating to bio-secure 'bubble' life have wrought numerous personnel changes, his name will figure in conversations among the selection panel.

The target of 131 set by Rahane was never seriously entertained, but there was sufficient time for likely Test opener Joe Burns to record a three-ball duck (bowled after dragging an attempted cover drive on to his stumps).

Burns' first-class record this summer is now 61 runs from seven completed innings at an average of 8.7.

Pucovski had also survived a dropped catch in slips when on one, and a confident lbw shout on 16 but it now seems Australia could take an opening combination of Burns and Marcus Harris into the first Test with David Warner (groin) and now Pucovski in doubt through injury.

 

Squads

Australia A (first game): Joe Burns, Will Pucovski, Marcus Harris, Travis Head (c), Cameron Green, Nic Maddinson, Tim Paine (wk), Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Mark Steketee, Harry Conway, Will Sutherland

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

India Test squad not involved in the T20s: Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: December 17-21, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT