Marcus Harris will make Test debut for Australia in first match against India: Paine
Adelaide, Dec 5 (IBNS): Captain Tim Paine has named Australia's XI which will play against India in the first Test match on Dec 6.
Paine confirmed that Victoria opener Marcus Harris will make his Test debut and batter Peter Handscomb will play ahead of allrounder Mitch Marsh.
The Australian captain said Harris will open the batting alongside Victoria teammate Aaron Finch and become the 456th male Test player for Australia.
Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon will be the four specialist bowlers who will counter Indian batting attack int he Test.
Explaining Marsh's omission, Paine was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia: "We know he's good enough to be a great allrounder at Test level but hasn't quite put it together at Test level yet."
"As this series wears on and you get to places where the wicket is a bit flatter and conditions a bit warmer and bowlers a little more tired, he might have more of a role to play," he said.
"We'll send him back to Shield, get some more cricket under his belt knowing at some stage we're probably going to need him," the captain said.
"The (Adelaide Oval) wicket over the last few years here has given enough throughout the game. We've got a lot of confidence in Nathan Lyon bowling the overs we need and all three of our quicks are going in very fresh," Paine said.
Domain Test Series v India
Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval
Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium
Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG
Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG
Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain
India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
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