The Australian cricket team needs to go back to the drawing board and develop a plan to overcome India at home after suffering a humiliating loss to them in the first Test at Nagpur. The tourists’ failure to schedule any practice games and their selection of Matt Renshaw over Travis Head both appear to have been mistaken. Although it’s likely that Head will play in the second Test in Delhi, former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes the team has put itself in a difficult situation.
According to Clarke, Head ought to have been in Australia’s starting lineup in Nagpur. Renshaw may have been chosen to take the batter’s spot if he hadn’t managed to score any runs. Australia is now confronted with a complicated dilemma, though. “Travis Head at No.5, if you start with him and it doesn’t work, then you can make a change,” Clarke said on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast. “Now, they either shoot themselves in the foot if they drop Matthew Renshaw because they say ‘okay, we made a mistake’, and Andrew McDonald has come out and said ‘we haven’t made a mistake’. They’ve put themselves in such a tough position.”
According to certain rumors, Australia may leave David Warner off the Delhi Test roster to make room for Travis Head to join the squad while keeping Matt Renshaw in the starting lineup. Warner might be replaced by a third spinner in the team’s draught, leaving Head with little choice but to remain on the bench as warming up cover. Australia must make some difficult selection decisions with just a few days till the start of the second Test.