The 22-year-old Will Pucovski believes that his hard work has paid off and he has ‘earned the right’ to be in Australia’s Test side for the four-match Test series against India. The youngster has been limelight ever since his name has been included in the Test squad. He has impressed everyone with his performance in Sheffield Shield this season and thus, some Australian greats, including Michael Clarke and Ian Chappell, have suggested him to be in the playing XI in place of Joe Burns.
While playing for Victoria, Will Pucovski amassed two consecutive double-centuries to dazzle everyone and forced the national selector to give him a call to play international cricket. Well, very few people know that the right-hand batsman was first named in the Test squad for the 2019 Sri Lanka series but stepped away from the game, citing mental health concerns. But this time the youngster feels that he is better prepared to make his Test debut compared to a couple of seasons ago.
“This time it feels like I’ve earned the right to be here, and I’m pretty pumped to take the challenge on of playing India if I do get the chance,” Will Pucovski said on SEN Radio.
“I feel like I’m in a much better place to take the opportunity if it presents itself now, than I may have been a couple of years ago. I was 20 a couple of years ago and I’m 22 now. I’ve played 15 or 20 more first-class games, and I’ve put a stack of work in off-field to make sure my life and my cricket is in a really good place,” he said.
Ready to do the job this time: Will Pucovski
Pucovski, who amassed 495 runs so far this domestic season, expresses that he is excited while at the same time, he is also ready to take the responsible job.
“Probably the difference in feeling is you’re excited, but you’re ready to do a job this time. Whereas last time, not that I wasn’t ready, but I was probably just so excited to get picked for Australia that I didn’t think too much about the job at hand,” Will Pucovski said.
Meanwhile, the four-Test match series will begin on December 17 with a day-night Test match in Adelaide.