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Aussies shut down putting Test batters into PM's XI

3 minute read

Australia have shut down talk their out-of-form batters could be rushed into the PM's XI match ahead of the crucial second Test in Adelaide.

ANDREW MCDONALD. Picture: Joe Allison/Getty Images

Cricket Australia have emphatically shut down the prospect of any out-of-form batters being parachuted into the Prime Minister's XI match following the Perth Test capitulation.

Australia will have to defy history to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy after going 1-0 down in the best-of-five series.

The last time Australia recovered after losing the first Test and came back to win the series was in the 1997 Ashes in England.

Crushed by 295 runs in their first defeat at Optus Stadium since it opened in 2018, Australia will stick with the same squad that travelled to Western Australia.

There are still nine days until the second Test in Adelaide, with suggestions struggling batters such as Marnus Labuschagne could try to search for form in Canberra, or even club cricket.

India will get an opportunity to face a pink ball in the two-day game against the PM's XI, starting on Saturday at Manuka Oval.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald was not tempted in the slightest to allow any of the XI that played in Perth to travel to Canberra, saying it "hasn't crossed our minds".

Former Test batter Matt Renshaw, along with fast bowler Scott Boland, are among those included in the PM's XI squad.

"We feel that with the long summer ahead, the prep we've got in place ... we'll be well prepared as we were leading into the first Test," McDonald said.

"They'll have some hits when they're back home, so part of the preparation will be when they're at home as well as when we get to Adelaide.

"Bowlers will go through their work in terms of recovery."

After the first Test finished on day four, Australia have decided to arrive in Adelaide on Monday - 24 hours earlier than initially planned.

"Obviously shifting into pink ball which will create different challenges in the way we go about it, so we'll invest in that extra day," McDonald said.

Unless Mitch Marsh's injury concerns become worse - the allrounder pulled up sore after bowling the most overs he has in a game for three years - then Australia are likely to go into the second Test unchanged.

McDonald has given Labuschagne his backing as the former No.1-ranked Test batter battles through the worst slump of his career.

It will create a situation where India, who played near-perfect cricket on days two and three, will make more changes than the opposition they just smashed.

Captain Rohit Sharma will return after missing the win following the birth of his second child.

No.3 Shubman Gill will also come straight back in if he has recovered from a thumb injury suffered in the lead-up to Perth.

If Gill joins Sharma in the line-up, then KL Rahul, who batted superbly as an opener, will shuffle back to No.6.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir, who arrived in Australia under extreme pressure after India's 3-0 whitewash by New Zealand, is expected to miss the PM's XI as he returns home for personal reasons.

But Gambhir will be back in Australia as India prepare for the Test at Adelaide Oval.