In a huge relief for Australia ahead of the first Test against India, premier batsman Steve Smith returned to the nets and batted for some time to prove his fitness on Wednesday, erasing doubts over his participation in the historic first-ever day-night Test match between India and Australia on Thursday in Adelaide.
Smith’s fitness became a cause of concern after he missed a training session on Tuesday due to a stiff back. After doing a few stretching exercises and running drills, Smith had skipped the routine football session and headed straight to the dressing room in some discomfort. Australia Test captain Tim Paine, however said it was not a serious niggle and a day’s rest came as a “blessing in disguise” for the star.
“We expect Steve to be there. He has had a stiff back a number of times before and you can have that if you bat as much as he does at the nets,” Paine said at the pre-match media interaction.
{{/usCountry}}“We expect Steve to be there. He has had a stiff back a number of times before and you can have that if you bat as much as he does at the nets,” Paine said at the pre-match media interaction.
{{/usCountry}}“He has a stiff back before and yesterday was more precautionary. Obviously, come tomorrow, he gets through stiff back and finds a way to score runs like he always does,” he added.
Australia have already been hit by multiple injuries, with David Warner (groin) and Will Pucovski (concussion) ruled out of the opening Test. Promising all-rounder Cameron Green, who will make his Test debut on Thursday, suffered a mild concussion after being hit on the head by a shot from Jasprit Bumrah in the pink ball warm-up match between India and Australia A in Sydney.
He had to be replaced under the sport’s concussion rules in that match and has since been monitored by Cricket Australia’s medical staff.
(With agency inputs)