BENGALURU: Cameron Green has an 'outside chance' of making it to Australia's playing eleven for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Grophy against India beginning on February 9 in Nagpur, said coach Andrew McDonald while talking to the media on Saturday.
The young Australian all-rounder hopes to have his fractured finger fully healed and be available for selection. Green was hit by a delivery from Anrich Nortje in the Perth Test against South Africa late last year. The 23-year-old has been sidelined since then but was named in Australia's squad for the tour of India.
"We've got a fair bit to work through before the first Test match, but we haven't put a clear line through him (Green) or... put him on the team sheet yet," said McDonald.
Australia are presently training in a four-day warm-up camp in Bengaluru.
"He (Green) has 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," the Australia coach added.
Green is also due to play in the coming season of the Indian Premier League, after Mumbai Indians paid the second highest price ever for a player in the IPL auction to bring the Australia in their camp.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins expects a hard slog leading the tourists' pace attack but said he was excited for the looming showdown between the world's top two Test teams.
"Coming here to India, a lot of the talk is around big spinning wickets, maybe fast Test matches, but it's not always the case," he told reporters.
"You need to get into the grind at times," he added.
"That role as a fast bowler may be just bowling plenty of overs for not a heap of reward, but doing your job for the team. I really enjoyed that aspect of the last tour. There's always plenty of people watching, so lots to play for."
Australia last won a Test series in India in 2004.
