“He’s made some significant steps forward in the last couple of days, probably to my surprise, so there’s still an outside chance that everything going well he might be on the team sheet,” McDonald told reporters in Alur on Saturday. “I wouldn’t say he was in discomfort with his bowling, one of the deliveries jarred the bottom of the bat and that can create discomfort for anyone but there’s a little bit of awareness around that finger.”
“I wouldn’t say it [two spinners] is a given, it’s very conditions dependent so particularly this first Test, once we get to Nagpur we’ll see,” Cummins said. “I think sometimes talking about a couple of spinners you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions. Even some of the SCG wickets, there hasn’t been a lot in them for quick bowlers but the quick bowlers have found a way.
“We’ve got plenty of bowling options here – fingerspin, wristspin, left-arm, Starcy when he comes back – so we’ll obviously pick the bowlers we think can take 20 wickets, how we are going to split that up we aren’t 100% sure yet.”
If Australia do go with two frontline spinners, Cummins was open to the uncapped offspinner Todd Murphy partnering Lyon, although Australia also have Travis Head’s bowling to call on. Legspinner Mitchell Swepson is the other option in the squad.
“It’s a chance. That’s something we’ll have to balance up if we want to go with two spinners,” he said. “Do we want variation, or just two offspinners? So there’s no reason why we can’t go that way. Travis Head is in the side as well and bowls really good offspin. We’ve got plenty of variety to choose from.”
“He’s really looking forward to the challenge of India and it’s been well documented that he hasn’t had the series that he would’ve liked here, and it’s always challenging,” McDonald said. “But the way that he’s applying himself in his downtime to really landing on a method to take on the Indian spinners, also the quicks, and to have a successful tour…I think you’ll see him fully invigorated, fully invested and fully recharged for the challenge ahead.”
Australia will have another full training session in Bengaluru on Sunday before traveling to Nagpur on Monday.