India are grappling several injury concerns at the moment, but Brett Lee feels Ajinkya Rahane and his team are fully capable of beating Australia in the fourth and final Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, starting Friday. Lee admits that India will be missing experience in their fast-bowling department with Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav ruled out and doubts lingering over Jasprit Bumrah's fitness, but by no means will the possibility of India winning in Brisbane be a miracle.
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"I don’t think a win at the Gabba is a miracle (for India), I think it’s a real possibility, especially if Australia are a couple short in their batting line-up," Lee told Fox Cricket. "The only thing that’s going to hurt India is their lack of options to choose from. A couple of their gun bowlers are gone, a couple of batsmen are out with injury as well."
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Lee's comments came before Australia informed the unavailability of Will Pucovski for the Brisbane Test since the young opening batsman failed to clear the fitness test after hurting his shoulder while fielding in Sydney. Lee feels that without Pucovski and Warner, Australia might struggle and that has the potential to tilt the scale in India's favour. But now that Pucovski will be replaced by Marcus Harris and it will be interesting to see how Warner is with his hamstring, Lee reckons India may just have the edge.
{{/usCountry}}Lee's comments came before Australia informed the unavailability of Will Pucovski for the Brisbane Test since the young opening batsman failed to clear the fitness test after hurting his shoulder while fielding in Sydney. Lee feels that without Pucovski and Warner, Australia might struggle and that has the potential to tilt the scale in India's favour. But now that Pucovski will be replaced by Marcus Harris and it will be interesting to see how Warner is with his hamstring, Lee reckons India may just have the edge.
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"The Australian bowlers are all fully fit, so I’m going to tip Australia is going to go well at the Gabba providing we have Pucovski and David Warner at the top of the order," Lee added.
"If we don’t, then India can definitely come back in and are a chance to beat Australia. Otherwise, we are potentially looking at two different openers at the Gabba. If that’s the case, then I’d have to say the tide turns and India would have to be favourites."