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Lehmann ready to give up his spot for Clarke
Darren Lehmann volunteered to give up his spot for rookie Michael Clarke after the return of regular skipper Ricky Ponting.
Australia's problem of plenty in the batting department came to the fore once again with their acting vice-captain Darren Lehmann volunteering to give up his spot for rookie Michael Clarke after the return of regular skipper Ricky Ponting.
Lehmann, who knows that atleast one member of the current playing 11 would have to make way for the injured Ponting who is likely to return for the third Test at Nagpur, said Clarke had the potential of being the future Australian captain and should be a regular in the national line-up for the next decade.
"If a guy plays a genius knock like that in the first innings of his first Test and is earmarked by all of us to play well, you have to let him in," Lehmann was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald here on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Clarke scored a brilliant 151 in his debut Test innings at Bangalore to help the Australians win the first Test by 217-runs.
"If I was a selector, I would think Michael Clarke should play every Test for the next 10 or 12 years. That would be my opinion. Obviously someone has got to miss out. Ricky comes back for the third Test. It's part of life. You don't worry about it too much.
"It might be the case that I stand down. I haven't ruled that out. That's something I'll think about and talk about after this match," he said.
"It's not a generous decision at all. It's just a decision that sometimes has to be made by someone. Sometimes you have to make the decision for them the selectors because it's a lot harder for them to make.
