Aus vs India 2020: Three players unlucky to be omitted from the Australian squad
Australia announced their 17-man squad for the upcoming four-match Test series against India on Thursday, with five uncapped players getting the nod. The squad was headlined by key players such as David Warner, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
Talented youngsters like Cameron Green, Will Pucovski, Michael Neser and Sean Abbott were also named and given a chance to potentially make their debuts in the series.
While Australia's squad contained very few surprises, some players who have been performing exceptionally well in the Sheffield Shield will feel slightly unlucky to miss out on the series against India. We look at three players who were unlucky to miss out on a spot in the Australia squad.
Shaun Marsh
If Shaun Marsh was just three years younger, he would have been included in the Australia squad for the India series. The 37-year-old appears to be in excellent form and has scored three centuries and one fifty in six innings in the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia. Marsh has scored 485 runs at an average of 97, showing that his class is certainly permanent.
Marsh has been given more than his fair share of chances in the Australian team. Now, at the age of 37, it is highly unlikely that he will wear the Baggy Green for the team ever again. But based on his form alone, he will be disappointed about not being selected for the tour.
Josh Inglis
Like Shaun Marsh, Josh Inglis has also been in excellent form in the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia. The wicket-keeper batsman has 354 runs after five innings with two hundreds, and a best score of 153 not out.
Inglis also has a very healthy strike-rate of 85.92, and his performances have been reminiscent of another aggressive Western Australia wicket-keeper batsman - Adam Gilchrist.
Unfortunately for Inglis, he sits behind Australia captain Tim Paine and Alex Carey (who is also not in the squad) in the pecking order for the national team. He will likely have to wait for Paine to retire if he wants to get a chance in the team.
Inglis will also be disappointed to have missed out on selection for the two Australia A games against India. That could have presented a real opportunity for him to show his quality.
Jackson Bird
If Jackson Bird was of any other nationality, he would have likely been a Test match regular. Such is the quality of the Tasmanian pacer, who has played in just nine tests over an eight-year period for Australia.
Bird's accuracy and his ability to attack the stumps makes him a dangerous weapon with the ball in hand. He has shown his quality in the Sheffield Shield once again this season and currently has the second-most wickets in the tournament, with 15 scalps to his name.
However, with the likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson all locked in as Australia's pace options, Bird hasn't been able to get a real opportunity in the team. He is unlucky to be left out of the team because of Australia's embarrassment of riches in the pace department.