Will Pucovski consults surgeon after shoulder injury, eyes return in South Africa series

Australian opener Will Pucovski who was ruled out of the series-deciding fourth Test against India at the Gabba, Brisbane has consulted a surgeon to keep his chances alive of playing in the Test series against South Africa.

Pucovski suffered a shoulder subluxation injury in his debut Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground while fielding on Day 5 of the contest as a result of which he had to walk off the field and could take no further part in the game.

Shaun Graf, Cricket Victoria's general manager of cricket, on Monday said Pucovski paid a visit to a leading surgeon as he wants to be fully fit ahead of the South Africa series. Meanwhile, it has also been learned that the opening batsman has now turned to cortisone injections in order to return to the field.

'Everyone is pretty hopeful'

"Everyone is pretty hopeful his shoulder is okay and he will be available for that tour. You can certainly get by with that, especially if you are not a bowler but, long-term, there may be further issues, if you dive, it could slightly displace it again. They are taking a cautious approach," he added.

"What they are looking to do is give him a cortisone [injection], if that settles the injury. With a bit of luck he will be able to get through and manage it through the South Africa tour -- if selected," Graf said.

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Australia tour of South Africa 2020/21

The Aussies will be visiting the 'Rainbow Nation' for three Tests in March. At the same time, there is no official confirmation regarding the dates for the upcoming Test series and even the venues for the same remain undecided as well. 

Meanwhile, the three-match Test series will form part of the inaugural 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship.

The Tim Paine-led side will be looking to keep their ICC World Test Championship final hopes alive after the recent 2-1 drubbing against India Down Under. At the same time, Australia will be playing red-ball cricket in South Africa for the very first time after the infamous ball-tampering scandal that had shocked the cricket world back in March 2018.

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The three Australian players who were accused of tampering with the cricket ball in the Cape Town Test match were temporarily suspended from international cricket. While Colin Bancroft was banned for nine months and fined  75 percent of his match fee, Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for 12 months with the former being fined 100% of his match fee.

Apart from that, both Smith and Warner were also stripped of captaincy and vice-captaincy respectively and reportedly the duo also lost out on a few sponsorship deals as well.

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(With ANI Inputs)