Every day will count: Boxing Day looms for Pucovski

Former Australia opener Chris Rogers understands better than most the impacts of concussion on batsmen, and believes a resilient Will Pucovski remains well placed to make his mark on the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series.

Pucovski has been ruled out of the first Vodafone Test, beginning on Thursday in Adelaide, but with more than a fortnight between his most recent concussion – sustained last week against the Indians while batting for Australia A in Sydney – and the Boxing Day Test, the 22-year-old may well be in line for a home debut at the MCG.

And it is the benefit of time that Rogers insists will be crucial. The former left-handed Test opener and current Victoria coach (and Australia A assistant coach) was badly hit in the helmet at Lord's during the 2015 Ashes, only a couple of months after being struck in the helmet in the Caribbean while preparing for a Test against the West Indies.

Rogers suffered dizzy spells in the week following the Lord's incident and was closely monitored before taking his place for the following Test almost a fortnight later.

Pucovski has a worryingly lengthy history of concussions already in his short career but Rogers believes improvements in his technique against the short ball, as well as the fact he has previously been through similar experiences, holds him in good stead in the immediate future.

"Time is gold," he said. "From my own experience, you just need a bit of time to get over it, and then get back in the nets, almost go through your process again, face your fears down a little bit and almost get back on the horse.

"Every day is going to count for him. And now he has a bit more time to prepare for (the second Test in) Melbourne, that's going to help.

"He's been through it before and keeps coming out the other side, so he's definitely shown resilience around it.

"I know he's done so much work on playing the short ball and he just made a mistake. Sometimes you don't always get it right.

"But what people might not now is he played a couple of Shield games and they tried to bounce him from almost the 10th over, for his whole innings, and he got two double-hundreds.

"So he has actually been playing that short ball pretty well – he just made one little mistake. But I think he has enough confidence in what he is doing, that if he had that opportunity (to play Test cricket) he'd be able to go out and take on the Indian bowlers."

Meanwhile, while unwilling to speak on behalf of Australia's brains trust, Rogers reasoned that Cameron Green's ambition to play in Adelaide may well prove to be unhampered by the concussion the allrounder suffered in the tour match at the SCG last Friday.

Green has been in sensational batting form and the two-metre tall pace bowler has also produced a couple of high-quality wicket-taking deliveries against the Indians across the past week to push his claims for a Test debut.

On Saturday, Australia A doctor Pip Inge noted Green "has shown clinical improvement overnight and is symptomatically better than yesterday".

"He will remain with the Australia A squad where we will continue to monitor him," Dr Inge said.

Speaking to media last night, Rogers said: "We're … five days out from the Test, so there is certainly a bit of time. If he was symptom-free today, then there is no reason he can't play that first Test if selected.

"That would be great if he was available," he added. "The way he's been going about it has impressed everyone and with so many injuries at the moment, if he can put his hand up and be in the right position, then you never know what might happen."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, 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