Matthew Kuhnemann Replaces Mitchell Swepson For India Test
Matthew Kuhnemann has been added to the Australian squad. He will take place of Mitchell Swepson who is set to miss the remaining set of test matches due to birth of his first daughter.
With a last-minute call-up to the Australian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Queensland spinner Matthew Kuhnemann is one step closer to making his Test debut.
Before the second Test against India, the 26-year-old will take a flight to the subcontinent and join the Australian team in Delhi in place of leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who will return home.
Left-arm orthodox bowler Kuhnemann has played only just 12 first-class games for Queensland. But he has showed great signs of improvement and maturity and in a very well deserved position to cap the baggy green if Australia selects three strike spinners for the second Test, which begins on Friday at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
That scenario, though, would only be feasible if Cameron Green, who was injured and missed the series opener in Nagpur, was well and available to bowl with Test skipper Pat Cummins.
The Delhi pitch has been known for favouring spinners for some period now. As records suggests, spinners have enjoyed bowling on these wickets with an average of 29.80 while the fast bowlers averaged 36.53 in the same period of time. Towards the end of an innings, seamers might get help with a bit of reverse swing.
Former Australian Under-19s player Kuhnemann earned his debut in Sri Lanka last year, taking six wickets in four one-day internationals.
No spinner in the game claimed more victims during the 2021/22 season than Queensland’s cunning tweaker, who had a brilliant Sheffield Shield campaign in which he took 25 wickets at 31.88 in seven matches.
Earlier this summer, Matthew Kuhnemann destroyed the Proteas top order in Brisbane by taking 4-78 against South Africa in a scrimmage at Allan Border Field.
Matthew Kuhnemann was also sent by Cricket Australia to the MRF Academy in Chennai last year, where he joined a group of aspiring batsmen and spinners to hone their skills there.
Here’s What Matthew Kuhnemann Said:
“I got a phone call yesterday morning when we were walking out for the warm-up, to my surprise. I was pretty shocked and I was probably a little bit nowhere in the first session yesterday,” Kuhnemann said on Sunday
“But it was a pretty amazing feeling and it‘s pretty cool to tell the boys as well at the warm-ups.
“I’ve watched every day (of the first Test), I‘ve just been such a fan of these series, they’re so good to watch. Todd Murphy was exceptional, and I watched how Jadeja bowled. I’m just really excited to be to get over there and be with the boys.”