With three days until the start of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur, Australia captain Pat Cummins said he hasn't decided whether to field two spinners in the playing eleven.
With Cameron Green having a very slim chance of bowling in the first Test, Australia is balancing their playing eleven on a knife-edge. Aside from premier off-spinner Nathan Lyon, the visitors have left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, and uncapped off spinner Todd Murphy as options.
Their batters Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Travis Head can also roll their arms over if necessary.
"I wouldn't say it (two spinners) is a given; it's very conditional, especially in this first Test; we'll see once we get to Nagpur. I think it's easy to forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions when we're talking about a couple of spinners. Even some of the SCG wickets haven't had much in them for quick bowlers, but they've found a way."
We've got plenty of bowling options here - fingerspin, wrist spin, left-arm, Starcy when he returns - so we'll obviously pick the bowlers we think can take 20 wickets, but how we'll split that up we're not 100% sure yet," Cummins told reporters at the KSCA Alur Facility, where Australia is holding their pre-series preparation camp.
If Australia does go with two spinners in Nagpur, Cummins suggested Murphy partnering Lyon, with Head providing the same variety on a part-time basis.
"It's a possibility. If we want to use two spinners, we'll have to balance that out. Do we want a variety of offspinners or just two? So there's no reason why we shouldn't go that route. Travis Head is also on the team and bowls well off spin. We have a wide range of options to choose from "He stated.
Australia and India, currently ranked first and second in both the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings and the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2023 cycle, will meet in Nagpur, New Delhi, Dharamshala, and Ahmedabad in a four-match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is currently held by India, which has won the last three series against Australia in 2017, 2018-19, and 2020-21, while Australia last won a Test series in India in 2004.