Sean Abbott ruled out of Australia’s first Test against India

Going into the Day-Night Adelaide Test against India, starting December 17, Australia won’t be having the services of Sean Abbott, who has been ruled out of the first match due to a mild calf-strain. The 28-year-old was a part of the national ODI and T20I teams that played the white-ball series versus the Men in Blue, though he could only manage two wickets from four matches.

Abbott also played the Day-Night practice match against India A at the Sydney Cricket Ground where he picked up the wickets of Mayank Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammed Shami. But Abbott not being there isn’t expected to be a massive blow for the Aussies as the speedster is yet to make his Test debut. From October 2014 onwards, Abbott has only played two ODIs and seven T20Is.

Australia’s pace bowling covered

In the first pink-ball Test, the hosts would be having Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in their pace bowling department. Mitchell Starc, on Sunday, confirmed to Cricket Australia that he would be joining the squad on Monday ahead of the series opener. In the bowling department, the home team also have Nathan Lyon, who has more than decent numbers against India in Test cricket.

In Abbott’s place, Australia have called up Moises Henriques, who hasn’t played Test cricket since 2016. The 33-year-old was a part of the ODI and T20I series where he showed his class in all the departments. He made his Test debut back in 2013 against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. But in four matches in the format, he has managed only 164 runs and two wickets.

Just in: Moises Henriques has been added to Australia's squad for the first Test; Sean Abbott is out due to injury #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/J2AJenvkG1

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 14, 2020

But bearing in mind Australia’s strength in the batting and pace-bowling areas, Henriques may not get into the playing eleven. The Portugal-born has handy first-class records though, scoring 5467 runs with 12 centuries and 22 fifties, and picking up 114 wickets from 103 matches.

If not for Australia’s home campaign, Henriques would have been a part of the Sydney Sixers in the ongoing edition of the Big Bash League. The Aussies, led by Tim Paine, would be starting the four-match series as the ICC’s number-one ranked Test side with 116 rating points.