BGT 2023 | Ashton Agar released from Australian squad to play Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup
Ashton Agar has been released from the squad and will fly back home ahead of the Indore Test and will participate in the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup. Agar is the third Australian player to fly back home after Josh Hazlewood and David Warner were excluded from the squad due to injuries.
Australia are trailing 2-0 in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and their two key players, Josh Hazlewood and David Warner, have already returned home with injuries. The visitors will now miss one more player in the upcoming fixture as Ashton Agar will return home to play the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup for Western Australia.
Agar was Australia’s second-choice Test spinner less than a month go but was overlooked for the two Tests against India. The left-arm spinner fell behind Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann in the pecking order during the India series.
Selector Tony Dodemaide confirmed the development and also mentioned that Agar has done his absolute best to support the team.
"(Agar) has worked incredibly hard, he's done his absolute best to support the team. We acknowledge all the work he's done, he's worked his backside off,” Dodemaide told reporters in Delhi.
"In the first Test it was a very close call (between Murphy, Agar and Swepson) as to what spin structure we went with. The question mark of whether the two off-spinners could go together.”
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Swepson will return to the team for the thid Test when Australia will take on the hosts from Wednesday.
Ashton Agar is heading back to Australia and will play #SheffieldShield for Western Australia.@LouisDBCameron | #INDvAUS https://t.co/c0mG8hBWUd
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 22, 2023