Melbourne: Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins is hopeful that rookie opener Will Pucovski will recover from concussion injury well in time ahead of the first Test starting at Adelaide Oval from December 17.
Pucovski, who was considered a sure-shot selection for the series-opener in Adelaide starting on December 17, was hit on the helmet by pacer Kartik Tyagi on Tuesday during the first warm-up game between Australia A and India A and was subsequently ruled out of the second tour game starting December 11.
It is the ninth time that Pucovski has suffered from concussion injury.
He had been hit on his head off the cricket field too, which included a knock on the door in his home in Melbourne and another time he suffered while playing Australian rules football as a teenager.
"It's not great. But I suppose in cricket it's been spread out over a few years. The good thing is he's been through it and he knows how to come back. He's obviously got the best experts around him that are going to help him," Cummins was quoted as saying by a website.
"I wish him all the best but it's obviously not ideal. You just want to go out and play sport, you don't want to think about these kinds of things or your health. Fingers crossed, he'll be OK."
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Pucovski, who scored 495 runs in two Sheffield Shield matches to get into the contention for the opening spot, was tipped to be make his debut against Pakistan last summer but ruled himself out of selection due to mental health problems.