The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is one of the most highly anticipated cricket series in the world, featuring fierce rivals Australia and India. The first Test took place in Nagpur, India, and was a crushing defeat for the Australians, who were bowled out for 191 and 195, losing by an innings and 132 runs in just three days.
One of the players who came under fire for his performance was opener David Warner. The Australian vice-captain has had a difficult time in India, scoring just 399 runs at an average of 22.16 in his nine Test matches there. In the first Test, he was dismissed for just 1 and 10, prompting calls for him to be dropped from the team.
Former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has joined the chorus of critics, urging the selectors to take a bold call and replace Warner with Matthew Renshaw as opener for the second Test. Johnson has also suggested that Travis Head should be brought into the middle-order to replace Warner.
There have been rumors that Head could even open the batting instead of Warner, but head coach Andrew McDonald has dismissed these reports, saying that the team has not yet made any decisions about the lineup for the second Test. McDonald did acknowledge, however, that the team needs to regroup and work through their options after the heavy defeat in the first Test.
The second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on February 17. It remains to be seen whether the selectors will heed Johnson's advice and make changes to the team, or if they will stick with the current lineup and hope for a better performance in the second Test.