Australia head coach Andrew McDonald gave an update about star player Cameron Green's injury ahead of the first Test against India starting on February 9. Green was ruled out of the Sydney Test match after he was seen bleeding while he suffered a thumb injury that needed surgery.
The 23-year-old batting all-rounder's finger injury raised concerns about his availability in the upcoming Test series. According to McDonald, Green is making a quick recovery and has an "outside chance" of making it to the team's playing XI for the opening game.
"We haven't put a clear line through him on the team sheet. So, I wouldn't say he was in discomfort when he was bowling," McDonald told reporters.
However, there are still some concerns when he is batting, admitted the head coach.
"I would say one of the deliveries jarred the bottom of the bat and that can create discomfort for anyone, but there is a little bit of awareness around that finger. He has made some significant steps forward in the last couple of days, probably to my surprise.
"So, there is still an outside chance, everything going well, he might be on the team sheet," McDonald kept the options open.
Earlier, Australia skipper Pat Cummins had confirmed that Green won't be able to bowl in the first game, but McDonald said he has made significant progress.
McDonald further spoke about opener David Warner being fully "recharged" and looking forward to making amends for his poor runs in some of the previous tours in the upcoming Test series.
"I haven't noticed any fatigue in David Warner since I got here," McDonald said. I would probably dispel that as a bit of a myth. He has had a couple of days off.
"I think the way he is applying himself in his downtime to really land on a method to take on the Indian spinners and also the quicks and to have a successful tour, I think you will see him fully invigorated and invested and fully charged for the challenge ahead."
Full squads
India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warne
