Ricky Ponting keeps Australia spot as Hughes & Khawaja dropped
Australia have dropped batsmen Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja for the Boxing Day Test against India at Melbourne – but former captain Ricky Ponting keeps his place in a 13-man Australia squad.
Ponting had been warned by coach Mickey Arthur that his place was not guaranteed, but has not been discarded despite being outscored by both Hughes and Khawaja at Hobart.
Hughes and Khawaja were omitted after Australia’s humiliating defeat by New Zealand earlier this month.
ed cowan is set for a test debut at the top of the order as shane watson is out injured
shaun marsh & Seamer Ben Hilfenhaus are also recalled.
All-rounder Dan Christian remains an option after he was 12th man for that defeat by the kiwis in hobart.
Australia squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Daniel Christian, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus.
India Test squad: Mahendra Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Umesh Yadav.
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