Justin Langer hints at Wade to open innings

ADELAIDE: Australia head coach Justin Langer on Tuesday stated that Marnus Labuschagne won't be opening the innings in the first Test of the upcoming four-match series against India. Langer though hinted that Matthew Wade could play as opener.

The Aussies, who had initially named David Warner, Will Pucovski and Joe Burns as openers for the first Test, suffered twin blows with Warner getting injured and Pucovski getting a blow on his head. Both the batsmen have been ruled out of the pink-ball Test which begins Thursday at the Adelaide Oval. And there are also doubts over Joe Burns who has had a terrible season. He failed in both the warm-up games and had struggled in Sheffield Shield cricket too. Left-handed opener Marcus Harris has been called up to the squad.

"Marnus won't be opening. He does amazing job at number three. Steve Smith does an amazing job at number four and we will try to stay as settled as possible...they've done terrific jobs in those positions. Marnus won't be opening so we have got Joe Burns and Harris who are the openers, we have got tough decisions to make but as I have said before, tough decisions are good decisions, which means we have competition for spots," said Langer.

"We have to pick our best six...and that is all part of jigsaw puzzle. There are a lot of balls in the air. I wish we could be definite, not just for you but for our players too. But until we get a few things ticked off ,we can't make any decisions yet," he added,

The Australia head coach further said that though Burns remains a contender, he recognises the need to have runs under the belt. IANS

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