Peter Handscomb is in a race against the clock to go on his first Australian Test tour in four years after scans confirmed a hip injury.
Handscomb was hurt on Tuesday night while playing club cricket in Victoria, when he was hit attempting to play a pull shot.
He continued batting, but collapsed in pain three balls later after hitting another pull shot for six.
Pete Handscomb left the field retired hurt in tonight’s @VicSuperSlam after this innocuous hit. He managed to see off a further three balls, but fell heavily on his final ball while hitting it for six. Fingers crossed it’s not of concern with a potential Indian tour on the cards. pic.twitter.com/Cr4n2WlvPt
— Tyler Lewis (@tmlew_) January 10, 2023
Scans have since confirmed soft-tissue damage in his right hip.
Officials are confident Handscomb will be fit to leave with the Australian team later this month for the Qantas tour of India.
Australia already have other injury concerns in their camp, with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green both nursing finger injuries.
Starc will miss the first Test in Nagpur on February 9 and fly to India afterwards, while Green is hopeful of playing in the series opener.
Handscomb’s best chance of a Test recall is likely to be if he is passed fit for the first match and Green does not recover in time.
Working in Handscomb’s favour is the fact he is a right-hander, and could break up the string of left-handers in the middle order.
Qantas Border-Gavaskar Tour of India 2023
February 9-13: First Test, Nagpur, 3pm AEDT
February 17-21: Second Test, Delhi, 3pm AEDT
March 1-5: Third Test, Dharamsala, 3pm AEDT
March 9-13: Fourth Test, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT
March 17: First ODI, Mumbai, 7pm AEDT
March 19: Second ODI, Vizag, 7pm AEDT
March 22: Third ODI, Chennai, 7pm AEDT
