Australia cricket team has included star opener David Warner for the third and the fourth Tests against India scheduled to be held in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
The southpaw was severely missed by the hosts during the Boxing Day Test match where the Australian top order looked brittle in both the innings and consequently lost the match by eight wickets.
Warner is expected to replace Joe Burns, who has been dropped from the Australia Test squad after he had registered scores of 8, 51*, 0 and 4 in the first two Test matches of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21.
"Joe Burns has been released from the squad and will return to the Brisbane Heat,” Australia selector Trevor Hohns said on Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, Joe's returns haven't been what he or the selectors would like or what we consider he is capable of.
"David (Warner) has made strong progress in his recovery from injury and will be given every chance to play in Sydney with another seven days until the match,” Hohns added.
Though Warner is yet to be declared a certain starter, the batsman was seen training at the MCG nets during the second Test match with skipper Tim Paine indicating that the explosive opener was all but ready.
The other Australian players added to the squad for the remaining two Tests are Will Pucovski and Sean Abbott.
Pucovski was in line to make his Test debut against India in Adelaide before a concussion during an Australia A practice match ruled him out of the opening two Tests. The Victorian has impressed one and all with his prolific display at the Marsh Sheffield Shield season as an opener.
Hohns revealed, "Will is in the final stages of the graduated return to play protocols and has been symptom-free for some time.
"He will be fit to play in Sydney subject to completing the return to play protocols and an independent assessment,” the selector added.
With Pucovski and Warner available for the opening slots at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia might push Matthew Wade down the order.
India vs Australia full squad for third Test
Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner
India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ David Gray
