Australia’s fast-rising young batsman Will Pucovski said he has “earned the right” to be in the extended Test squad for the four-match series against India next month.
Pucovski has been named in the extended 17-member Australian Test squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting with a day/night match at Adelaide from December 17.
Following his Test selection, the youngster has insisted that he is better prepared to make his Test debut compared to a couple of seasons ago having come off back-to-back double hundreds in the Sheffield Shield. He has amassed 495 runs so far this season and is currently the tournament’s highest run-scorer.
Before earning a Test call-up for the high-profile Test series against India, the 22-year-old was first named in the Test squad for the Sri Lanka series last year, but he opted out of the game citing mental health concerns. He is now competing with Joe Burns for the opening place in Australia XI.
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Pucovski told SEN Radio, “This time it feels like I’ve earned the right to be here, and I’m pretty pumped to take the challenge on of playing India if I do get the chance. It's been a long journey but I don't think I could be in a much better place to take this challenge on.
It's something I'm really excited for, and people have their different journeys, and mine's taken a different path, but two years down the track from Sri Lanka when I was just about to turn 21, I feel like I've put in a mountain of work and that's been to achieve my goal of hopefully succeeding and playing for Australia. So, if the opportunity comes, I definitely think I'm ready.”
He added, “I feel like I'm in a much better place to take the opportunity if it presents itself now than I may have been a couple of years ago. I think I've just put the work in, to be honest, and I guess natural maturity. I was 20 a couple of years ago, I'm 22 now, I've played 15 or 20 more first-class games, I've put a stack of work in off the field to make sure my life and my cricket's in a really good place and probably the difference in feeling is more like you're excited but you're ready to do a job this time.”
About what has changed since the last call up, Pucovski said, “Probably the difference in feeling is you’re excited, but you’re ready to do a job this time. Whereas last time, not that I wasn’t ready, but I was probably just so excited to get picked for Australia that I didn’t think too much about the job at hand.”
The youngster signed off by saying, “Last time, not that I wasn't ready to do a job, but you were probably so filled with that sort of excitement of getting picked for Australia that I didn't think too much about the job at hand. This time around it feels like 'I've earned the right to be here' and I'm pretty pumped to take the challenge on, even if I don't play, just doing my bit around the squad to hopefully win a series for Australia.”
