The Australian batter Steve Smith sustained a finger injury during the net session in Adelaide on Tuesday which creates a concern on his availability for the second test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Smith was taking throwdowns from teammate Marnus Labuschagne when the ball bounced and hit his fingers. He walked off the nets after being attended by the physio and the nature of the injury is yet to be known.
Australia has been struggling with injury scare as Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out for the second test due to injury and Mitchell Marsh’s has sustained a sore during the first match.
According to a statement by Cricket Australia, it is a ‘low-grade left side injury’ which has put his availability for the rest of the series in doubt.
Hazlewood was the pick of the Aussies bowlers with India being bowled out for just 36 runs and the right arm pacer finishing with the figures of 5/8 in his five overs.
Meanwhile Labuschagne could be seent sitting down on the ground in the discomfort. He was reportedly hit by a raising bowling coach Daniel Vettori but the batter got up and continued batting.
Australia has named two uncapped bowlers on their squad to cover for Hazlewood. Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett make their way to the squad. It i expected that Scott Boland could be gearing up to make a return to Test cricket after playing his last test in July 2023 in Adelaide.
Australia suffered a 295-run defeat during the first match where Jaiswal and Virat Kohli had centuries while Bumrah and Siraj took most of the wickets down in the Australian lineup.
Taking the 1-0 lead, India retained their top spot in the WTC points table with Australia slipped down to second place and further slipped down to third position after South Africa secured a win against Sri Lanka.
The second game of the Australia-India tests will begin on December 06 at Adelaide Oval.
