Australia opener David Warner races against time to participate in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he sustained a groin injury during the second ODI against India at SCG on Sunday (November 29).
Cricket Australia (CA) on Monday (November 30) confirmed that the southpaw will miss the last one-day international and the three-match T20I series against India.
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According to a PTI report, Warner will also miss the first Test against India and Australia coach Justin Langer has said that the temporarily vacant opening slot will go to the one who performs well for Australia A in the upcoming tour games against the visitors.
The Australian cricket fraternity has been debating about Warner's opening partner in the Test series with a few backing the struggling Joe Burns to keep his place while others batting for the young Will Pucovski.
However, the injury to Warner has changed the situation and now both Burns and Pucovski could open.
"No wonder I'm a bit more relaxed. We've won a few games and I don't have to worry about who we're going to pick for the Test side," Langer was quoted as saying by the Australian media after the team arrived in Canberra for the third ODI.
Australia A will face India A from 6 December and against senior Indian team on 11 December in Sydney before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"I've said it so many times, the hardest part of the job is selecting the teams, but we've got an Australia A game starting in a few days and it'll be a good opportunity for those guys against the Indian A side to put their hand up.
"And then after that is another Australia A game versus the actual Indian Test side at the SCG under lights with a pink ball," Langer said.
"We'll work out who's going to play in that game and certainly there's huge opportunities for people to put their hand up."
The battle for the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kick-start with the pink-ball affair at the Adelaide Oval on December 17. Melbourne will host the second Test from December 26 while the third and fourth Tests will be played in Sydney Cricket Ground (January 7-11) and Brisbane's Gabba (January 15-19), respectively.
Commenting on Warner’s injury, Langer said: "He's strained his abductor in his groins and they tell me it's a very painful injury. It looked like he got shot by a gun. He was in incredible pain in the changerooms after."
"I'm not holding my breath that he'll be ready for the first Test match, but with that said he's the sort of elite professional who will be doing literally everything possible to be ready for it.
"We'll see what happens, but he's going to be a loss that's for sure."
(With PTI inputs)
