By IANS
Melbourne : Australian tearaway Mitchell Johnson’s impressive record against India will make him the preferred choice over Shaun Tait for the Boxing Day (Dec 26) Test match.
Johnson lost his place to Tait in the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand. But Australian coach Tim Nielsen believes Johnson will not easily be dislodged from the Test team on account of his success against Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh.
That might be bad news for Shaun Tait, who has roughed up New Zealand’s batsmen and done his best to bowl his way into the team since recovering from elbow surgery.
Until the selectors view the wicket, they cannot confirm the selection of wrist spinner Brad Hogg, although most in the team hierarchy favour the inclusion of a specialist spinner rather than having four quicks.
“When the selectors sit down and have a look at the best mix for a team against India I am sure the fact that Mitchell has knocked over the likes of (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Rahul) Dravid consistently over the last couple of years will be a big tick in his box,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen said Johnson, who has taken 19 scalps at an average of 16 runs in nine matches against India.