After the humiliating loss against hosts India in the first Test match at Nagpur, out of form opener David Warner is all set to be dropped from Australia’s playing XI for the second Test match.
The second Test will be played in New Delhi from February 17.
As per sources, the Australian cricket team is considering swapping David Warner with Travis Head who is an off-spin all-rounder. Australia team management is hopeful that with Warner’s replacement, changes could be made to their struggling batting order for the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Explosive opener Warner has so far played in 102 Test matches for Australia. He has 8,143 runs in his kitty at an average of 45.74 including 25 centuries.
However, his performance in India is quite ordinary. He has managed to score only 399 runs from nine matches at an unimpressive strike rate of 22.16. He has the best individual Test score of 71 on Indian soil.
Moreover, to address their loss in India, Australia has brought spinner Matt Kuhnemann to join them in India for the rest of the tour. Kuhnemann will come under consideration for a Test debut when the second Test gets underway in Delhi on Friday. The left-arm spinner will join the squad replacing leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson.
Notably, India won by an innings and 132 runs against India in the first Test in Nagpur. This was India’s third-biggest victory over Australia.