The Border Gavaskar Trophy is missing its key players this time due to injuries. Recently, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami suffered an injury in Adelaide Test and was ruled out of the entire series and now, David Warner and Sean Abbott are the fresh names who will miss the Boxing Day Test, starting from December 26.
David Warner suffered an injury in the ODI series last month and he will take one more week to recover from it. The pacer Sean Abbott has also been ruled out of the second Test due to a calf strain. Both will join the squad from the third Test.
Sean Abbott is not a regular part of the Aussies Test squad but David Warner’s absence will hurt Australia in the top-order and Australia would go ahead with the similar playing XI.
"Warner and Abbott spent time in Sydney outside the team's bio-secure hub to recover from injury. While neither player has been in a specific 'hotspot' as outlined by NSW Health, Cricket Australia's bio-security protocols do not allow them to rejoin the squad in time for the Boxing Day Test. The pair travelled from Sydney to Melbourne to continue their rehabilitation given the changing public health situation in Sydney at the time,” said Cricket Australia in a media release.
The final Test squad of Australia for Boxing-Day Test:
Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade
