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Australia left-arm spinner Ashton Agar has returned home from the ongoing tour of India to play in Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup for his domestic side Western Australia. However, there are no further inclusions made in Australia’s Test squad ahead of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting from March 1 in Indore.
29-year-old Agar is likely to come back to India ahead of the ODI series starting from March 17 in Mumbai as he still remains an integral part of Australia’s ODI plans for the World Cup, which will be played later this year in India.
Meanwhile, right-arm pacer Josh Hazlewood and left-handed opener David Warner have already returned home due to injuries. Hazlewood is suffering from Achilles tendonitis, while Warner has a hairline fracture in his left elbow after getting hit by India pacer Mohammed Siraj on the first day of the second Test in Delhi.
But, Agar has left the Test squad fully fit and will be playing in the next Sheffield Shield match for Western Australia starting from March 2 and the 50-over Marsh Cup final on March 8.
In the last home Test of the summer against South Africa, Agar played as a second spinner alongside off-spinner Nathon Lyon and was expected to be a regular feature in Australia’s playing XI for the Test series in India.
However, he was excluded from Australia’s playing XI for the first Test in Nagpur, with debutant off-spinner Todd Murphy getting picked ahead of him as a second spin-bowling option along with Lyon as Australia went with a bowling combination of two spinners and two fast bowlers.
In the second Test in Delhi, Agar was again not selected in the XI as Australia went with another left-arm spinner and debutant Matthew Kuhnemann, who came to India just five days before the start of the second Test in Delhi.
Surprisingly, Australia selector Tony Dodemaide spoke to the media before the toss on the first day of the second Test explaining his selections. He explained that Agar was excluded because “his red-ball bowling is not quite where he wants it to be.”
Dodemaide explained that it was a “close call” to pick Murphy over Agar for the first Test. On Tuesday, Agar and Dodemaide met at the team hotel and it was decided that Agar would return home to play domestic cricket.
“He [Agar] has been very open with us and he has absolutely worked his backside off in order to get it right, to put himself up and be an option. We absolutely acknowledge that there’s been no lack of effort from Ashton,” said Australia selector Dodemaide on Wednesday.
“Todd’s come on tremendously, as we know, and he’s been a real find for us for this. Those two [Murphy and Lyon] are now clearly established, I think, as the best two spinners, and they have 18 out of the 24 [wickets] to fall so far for us.
“We just decided that Matthew’s style might be suited to the conditions there [in Delhi]. Matthew’s done nothing wrong, he took Virat Kohli’s wicket and did a really solid job, we thought,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australia leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who returned home before the start of the first Test in Nagpur will fly back to India ahead of the third Test in Indore starting from March 1.
On the other hand, Australia skipper Pat Cummins is also expected to return to India ahead of the third Test after flying home due to family health reasons immediately after the end of the Delhi Test. However, the situation of Cummins still remains touch and go with vice-captain Steven Smith given a signal to be ready to lead the side in the third Test if Cummins fails to return on time.
Australia have not added any other batter to the squad to replace Warner, who was ruled out of the remaining Test series due to his injury, given all-rounder Cameron Green is expected to be fit for the third Test.
Earlier, India retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy and took and unassailable 2-0 lead in the series after defeating Australia with six wickets in the second Test in Delhi.
The third Test will be played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore from March 1-5, followed by the final test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from March 9-13.
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