Adelaide [Australia], December 3 (ANI): Star Australian batter Steve Smith suffered a hit on his right thumb while batting in the nets ahead of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against India at Adelaide Oval, reported Wisden on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the hosts experienced a mild scare from Smith as while he was taking throwdowns from Marnus Labuschagne, he was struck on his right thumb. For a brief while, he stopped batting and looked in some serious pain while having a chat with Marnus Labuschagne, as per Wisden.
An Australian team medical staff member came into the nets for examination of his thumb and Smith moved it gingerly to test its condition. Though he did not experience much discomfort, but left the nets at that point of time.
After a short while, Smith was back, batting in another net, seemingly not having suffered any long-term damage that could impact his participation in Adelaide.
In the first Test at Perth, Smith registered a golden duck in the first innings before being dismissed for 17 runs in the second innings during a massive run chase of 534 runs. The Aussies lost by 295 runs.
Aussies would need their premier batter in form if they want to have any serious chances of bouncing back. In 13 Tests of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (2023-25) cycle, Smith has scored just 755 runs in 26 innings, averaging a sub-par 32.82, with a century and four fifties only to show for and a best score of 110.
In 11 Test since his last century against England in July last year, Smith has scored 589 runs in 11 matches at an average of 31.00, with just four fifties in 22 innings and best score of 91*.
Smith has played six Tests this year, having scored just 230 runs in 12 innings at a shockingly poor average of 25.55, with one fifty and best score of 91* to his name.
Senior pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the pink-ball match due to a side strain, with Scott Boland looking all but set to play. Also, pacers Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett have also been called up to cover up for Hazlewood in the squad.
Also, all-rounder Beau Webster was included in the squad as a cover for Mitchell Marsh, even though the 33-year-old declared himself fit for the Adelaide Test.
The Adelaide test will kickstart from December 6 onwards, with India heading into the game with a mental and physical edge over the Aussies who were left devastated by Bumrah’s bowling and captaincy during a 295-run loss at Perth’s Optus Stadium in the first Test.
However, the visitors would be looking to overcome the ghosts of the 2020 Adelaide pink-ball Test, which saw them being bundled out for their lowest Test score of 36 runs, starting that series on a nightmarish note. Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) had run riot over the Indian line-up in the second innings, getting an easy target of 90 runs to chase.
Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal. (ANI)
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