Allan Border omits Todd Murphy from playing eleven for second Test against India
Former Australian skipper Allan Border has made a shocking selection call to his playing eleven for the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against India. He dropped Todd Murphy and stated that Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc should play if fit.
The 156-Test veteran also went with Travis Head in his playing eleven after his shocking omission from the first match. Head's absence from the Nagpur Test sparked widespread outrage as he was amongst the most consistent batters in the last two home summers.
Speaking on SEN 1170 Breakfast, Border opined that Head deserved a chance to bounce back after his disappointing tours of Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2022 as it was a selection blunder.
"I thought he must have been crook or injured himself. I just couldn’t believe that Travis Head could be left just on a whim that he didn’t play very well in India last time or when they were in Sri Lanka or whatever."
"That’s maybe a case, but you’re allowed to improve, and Travis Head is one of those players that has improved and he showed that during the summer. He deserved the opportunity to play in that First Test match no doubt it about, I think they got that selection really wrong."
Matt Renshaw, who played ahead of Head, had a Test to forget with scores of 0 and 6 in Nagpur. Nevertheless, Murphy was their best bowler in Nagpur as the debutant claimed seven wickets out of the ten to fall.
"I think we should go with our strengths" - Allan Border
Allan Border reasoned that they must play two frontline quicks as fast bowling is Australia's strength and that playing the pacers worked in India before. The former southpaw explained:
"We tend to look at the pitches that are gonna turn and say we should play with a couple of spinners. I’m a bit the other way – I think we should go with our strengths, go with our fast bowlers, bowl with certain plans to their batsman, subtle different changes of tactics, and play with the three quicks and just the one spinner."
"That formula has worked for us generally. And when we’ve done in India in the past, it’s on the back of McGrath, Kasprowicz, Jason Gillespie – these guys. Fast bowlers doing a really good job for us and getting the 20 wickets."
Australia must earn a draw or win in Delhi to stay alive in the series and the same would ensure a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Allan Border's XI for the second Test: Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green (if fit), Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood