Australia squad for India Test series: Peter Handscomb in despite injury, uncapped Todd Murphy among the four spinners
Australia on Wednesday announced the 18-player squad for the upcoming four-match Test series in India starting February 9. Among the major highlights in the Pat Cummins-led lineup was the Test recall of 31-year-old Peter Handscomb, despite an injury he sustained while playing for St Kilda against Melbourne in the Victorian Super Slam – the state’s T20 competition on Tuesday.
Handscomb went down while playing a pull shot and was deemed retired hurt at the score of 16 off 8 balls. Chairman of the selection committee, George Bailey gave the 31-year-old a big thumbs up upon the announcement of the squad.
Pete Handscomb left the field retired hurt in tonight’s @VicSuperSlam after this innocuous hit. He managed to see off a further three balls, but fell heavily on his final ball while hitting it for six. Fingers crossed it’s not of concern with a potential Indian tour on the cards. pic.twitter.com/Cr4n2WlvPt
— Tyler Lewis (@tmlew_) January 10, 2023
“Peter Handscomb deserves his place back in the squad,” Bailey said. His domestic form has been strong recently and Pete has proven he can perform at Test level. His experience against spin on the subcontinent is valuable and he is also an exceptionally good close to the wicket catcher.”
Handscomb had scored 2 centuries and four fifties across 29 innings for Australia. He played his last Test for Australia back in January 2019, against India in Sydney.
While his comeback is definitely a good news, Handscomb’s recent injury which is being assessed at the moment of writing will determine whether he features in the four Tests spread across February-March or not.
Spin brigade
With India boasting a trio as elusive as Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, who is expected to be fit time of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia had to lock in multiple spin options assing Nathan Lyon on conducive wickets.
Hence the selection of Ashton Agar, Mitch Swepson and a maiden call up for 22-year-old Todd Murphy.
“Todd Murphy has progressed quickly having impressed in domestic cricket and recently with Australia A,” Bailey said. “With those performances Todd has emerged as a strong spin option.”
Four spinners included in the Aussie squad for the four-Test tour #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/1ITzFS0xA1
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 11, 2023
Murphy made his first-class debut for Victoria in April 2021 and has since captured 29 wickets averaging 25.2.
“There’s no secret that I’m very impressed Todd Murphy,” Nathan Lyon had said last month. “I have done a lot of work with Todd, been around the Sixers with him. He’s definitely put his hand up.
“I first bowled with him two years ago in the Shield bubble. He’s got the skillset there. It’s just about him learning the craft tactically and mentally and just really honing in on that skillset of bowling an unbelievable stock ball.”
Australia squad for the Test series vs India: Pat Cummins (captain), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
