After Glenn Maxwell came out with his mental health problem in public, it has now paved a way for the other cricketers to talk about the issue openly and not to hide it fearing public reaction.
Will Pucovski, the young Australian batsman who is being seen as a bright prospect for Australian cricket and was on the verge of breaking into the Australian test team for the series against Pakistan, has asked Cricket Australia to give him a break on mental health grounds.
Pucovski has impressed one and all in his short first class career so far. In the 15 first class matches that he has played, he has scored 1062 runs at an average of over 46.
With Travis Head struggling with his form right through the Ashes series, it was more or less certain that Pucovski was going to be preferred over him for the Pakistan series, but now after his withdrawal, Head has been able to retain his place in the squad.
Australia have dropped a few players who had featured in the Ashes squad. The left-handed opener Marcus Harris, who had looked completely off colour against England, has been shown the exit door and so has Usman Khawaja.
Khawaja although has a great record on Australian pitches, but his numbers overseas don’t make for a good reading and the team management seems to have started looking beyond him.
Australia haven’t picked Peter Siddle either and the third fast bowler’s slot is now likely to go to James Pattinson who was benched in favour of Siddle during the 5th Ashes test match.
Here is the squad Australia have announced for the first test match against Pakistan –
Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head (vc), Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner
