Melbourne: Australia head coach Justin Langer feels that going into the Boxing Day Test, his side has an advantage over the visitors because of the absence of India skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Shami. While Kohli flew back to India to attend the birth of his first child, Shami suffered a fracture after copping a Pat Cummins bouncer on his arm
in the second innings of the first Test in Adelaide. He was ruled out of the remainder series.
In a media interaction on Thursday (December 24), Langer acknowledged the duo’s absence is a major blow for India and how it would help the Aussies start the game on the front foot.
“Virat Kohli is one of the all-time great players and Shami I think is a real glue for the Indian bowling attack, because he’s so miserly, he’s very, very skilful. So of course it gives us an advantage. But we just know we have to keep working hard in all the processes we’ve been talking about for sometime we know we have to start strongly on day one, we know we need to keep the pressure on Rahane if he is the new captain,” Langer said.
Meanwhile, Langer also said that Australia will not make any changes to their winning combination for the second Test. Australia will be without opener David Warner for the game as he was ruled out due to a groin injury from which he is recovering. The left-hander reached Melbourne from Sydney well ahead of the second Test but he is yet to join the rest of the squad due to Cricket Australia’s bio-bubble protocols.
“So our processes don’t change, but when you take the best players out of any cricket team, then of course it weakens them, that is just reality, and it gives us an advantage. I’d be a pretty courageous man to change the XI for this Test match after the last one. So at this stage, unless something happens over the next few days, and it can happen in the world we live in, we’ll go in with the same XI, I would say,” Langer said.
India will be led by Ajinkya Rahane in the Boxing Day Test which will be played in Melbourne from December 26.
