Steve Smith to become Australia’s skipper in Pat Cummins's absence

Australia have been struggling against the strong Indian side on and off the field. Their batters seem confused to find a solution against the Indian spinners. Their poor shot selection is grabbing the headlines and are the soft points for criticism. They have lost their chance of winning the Border Gavaskar trophy as India has an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the four-match series. The most they can try is to save their side from humiliation and level the series by winning the third and fourth matches. 

Off the field, they are facing injury concerns which are resulting in the scarcity of players in the team. While coming to India, their two key players - Cameroon Green and Josh Hazlewood were dealing with fitness issues. Hazlewood has since been ruled out because of injury without having played even a single match while Green is anticipated to be physically fit for the third Test. 

Mitchell Starc was another option for the Delhi Test but wasn’t selected in the Playing XI as Australia opted for a three-player spin attack. 

Aussie skipper Pat Cummins has departed back to his home as he had to deal with a family problem. It’s expected that Cummins will be back in time just before the 3rd Test match at Indore which is scheduled for March 1. Vice-captain Steve Smith is being kept on standby in case Cummins fails to come. 

Also, leg spinner Mitchell Swepson will be back in the groove after returning home for the birth of his child last week. Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann are two sinners who debuted during this tour. 

Nevertheless, the biggest blow for the Australian side came in the form of David Warner being ruled out of the remaining series because of an elbow fracture. 

This has also come into the news that the Oz squad is to be trimmed as Matt Renshaw and Ashton Agar are to be terminated as they are not fit for competing. 

With Warner out of the frame, there are mumbles of a wonder call-up for Glenn Maxwell whose expectancies of making a move into the national squad were ended due to a broken leg.