Australia vs India: Michael Hussey calls for a player's inclusion in last two Tests

Even though Australia came back well after losing the first Test match in Adelaide by 31 runs, their batsmen have failed to deliver consistently. In the four innings that the home team has batted so far, it has succeeded to cross 300 only once. In the second innings in Perth too, Tim Paine’s side was placed well with the bat in the second innings but lost their last six wickets for only 51 runs to allow India a chance of returning to the game.

Former Australia batsman Mike Hussey is in favour of picking wicketkeeper batsman Matthew Wade as a specialist batsman in the side given his current form in the Sheffield Shield. The 30-year-old Tasmanian has 571 runs from 12 innings at an impressive average of above 63. He has scored one hundred, five fifties and two forties in his last 12 innings. A veteran of 22 Test matches, Wade last played for Australia against Bangladesh in September 2017.

‘Wade needs to be considered’

“He definitely needs to be considered,” Hussey said in a lunchtime Q&A with fans of foxsports.com.au at the lunch break of Day four of the second Test in Perth. “He’s been in great form this season for Tasmania.” The Kangaroos’ slide after the lunch at the new Perth Stadium might make Hussey’s observation even more relevant for the selectors.

The hosts will name a new squad for the third and fourth Tests scheduled in Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7) and one batsman who is facing a question mark is Peter Handscomb, who has managed just 68 runs in four innings so far even though he came on the back of a good batting form in the domestic circuit.

Though he did not directly speak in favour of dropping the Victoria batsman, Hussey addressed the issue in a diplomatic way by asking whether there is a better player to come in and replace Handscomb.

Hussey had been one of Australia’s most prolific scorers even though he made his Test debut at the age of 30 and played international cricket for eight years scoring over 12,000 runs.

[interaction id=”5c162a0c08b5341855788419″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.