Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia can deal with absence of Pat Cummins and David Warner, says Peter Handscomb
Australia batter Peter Handscomb has said that the team has all the information they need going into the third and the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia will cope fine without Pat Cummins and David Warner in the remaining Tests, feels Peter Handscomb. (AP Photo)
By India Today Sports Desk: Australia might be hurt with the unavailability of captain Pat Cummins and David Warner for the third Test match, but have enough information to cope without them in the remaining Test matches against India, feels batter Peter Handscomb, who made a return to the Test fold in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia are still in New Delhi, practicing ahead of their Test match in Indore, which is scheduled to start on March 1. They will be missing Cummins and Warner, who have been forced to leave for Australia due to a family emergency and injury issues respectively.
Speaking ahead of the third Test match, Handscomb said that it would be tougher to play against India in Indore.
“They’re two world-class players and Pat’s our captain as well, so it’s definitely going to make it tougher… It’s going to be a big loss not having those two,” batter Handscomb said.
“But we’ve got all the information we need… We’ve got the training and the facilities that we need to be ready to go for Indore and Ahmedabad,” he further added.
Australia will have Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green ready to go for the third Test, two straight changes Australia are expected to make to their playing XI.
“Starc is coming back from injury and Green is coming back from injury. We’ve got a couple of big ins potentially, so there’s that exciting part as well,” the right hander said.
Steve Smith will lead the side in the absence of Cummins. He previously captained Australia between 2015 and 2018.
“He hasn’t changed too much,” Handscomb said. “It shows he’s a world-class player and he thinks about the game a lot, so he’s a good one to have under Pat. He’s obviously experienced in this situation as well.
“It’s not something new to him so he can just go about his business the way he normally does. He’ll be focusing on his batting first and the captaincy second,” the batter concluded.
