Australia has an axious wait ahead of the second Test against India with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green racing the clock to be fit.
The tourists are expected to make changes from the Nagpur drubbing, with spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, returning fast bowler Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green fighting for a place in the side.
Watch Australia’s Tour of India. Every Test & ODI live & ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
MATCH CENTRE: Stats, scorecards, commentary and more!
“Having a right-hander helps and (Green) providing our fifth bowling option also helps, he’s a big player,” Cummins said.
“He’s still coming back from that injury, he’s only had a couple of sessions where he’s catching with a hard ball. We will see how he pulls up.”
Cummins called Starc the “world’s premier” bowler in these conditions, but said all options were open going into the Test.
Spinner Todd Murphy had debut figures of 7-124 in Nagpur and Cummins again challenged his spinners to make best of the conditions.
“Even the last game we saw a lot of around-the-wicket bowling where in Australia it’s mainly over the wicket bowling,” said Cummins.
“It’s a bit of an adjustment, but in some ways it doesn’t get any better. You have a wicket there that’s spinning, you can show how good you are.
“Starcy and Green had good sessions yesterday and we will assess them later on today,” Cummins said on Thursday. “We don’t have a line through them yet, we’ll see.”
One player who appears locked in to play is David Warner with Cummins backing the veteran despite his struggles for form.
“I’m not a selector. I don’t think they’ve had a meeting but I’m sure Davey will be there,” Cummins said of Warner’s inclusion in the New Delhi Test, which starts Friday.
“You saw this year at the Boxing Day Test when he puts pressure back on the opposition he’s pretty hard to bowl to. You don’t get as many good balls, so he knows that. I’m sure that’d be part of his plan,” said Cummins.
“He has been batting really well here. Even in the lead-up I thought he was fantastic.
“I know there’s a lot of talk about spin bowling through the middle, but with that new ball it’s sometimes the hardest time to bat as well.”
Veteran cricket report Robbert Craddock, however, said “tough conversations” were on the horizon should Warner fail again.
“Warner appears likely to be retained for the Delhi Test and, for all of his struggles apart from his recent double century in Melbourne, that would be a fair call given his exceptional overall record for Australia,” he wrote in The Australian.
“If he fails in this Test, Warner is still likely to get another one.
“Tough conversations are looming but Australia is willing Warner towards a farewell Ashes tour this year and he will not be axed without the deepest consideration.”
Australian legend Allan Border, meanwhile, said Cummins needed to make a brutal call on first Test hero Murphy.
We tend to sort of look at that ‘the pitches are going to turn, let’s go with a couple of spinners’,” Border said on SEN.
“I think we should go the other way, go with our strengths — go with the fast bowlers and bowl to certain plans to their batsmen. Subtle change in tactics, go with the three quickies and the one spinner. That formula has worked well for us generally.
“When we’ve done well in India in the past, McGrath and Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie, fast bowlers have done a really good job for us. And on the back of that our batsmen have done a good job making a decent sort of score. You can’t win games like we did in the first Test match.
“Well done to young (Todd) Murphy, it’s going to be a tough decision to leave him out, I know the wicket is going to turn but I just reckon the formula for us to be successful (is) three quickies and one spinner.
“Really work hard on your field positions … Just bowl stump to stump and be relentless with that sort of tactic, I think that is going to be better for us than trying to beat them with spin, we’ve tried that forever and ever, and it hasn’t worked.
“That formula to me just isn’t working, and we need to go back to what does work and that is with the quickies.”
Follow all the action in our live blog below. If you can’t see it, click HERE