Ahead of their much anticipated series against the touring Indians, Australian cricket team coach Justin Langer has announced his opening pair for the four-match Test series – The Border-Gavaskar trophy.

The Virat Kohli-led Indian team is scheduled to play three ODI’s, three T20I’s and four Tests down under. The Indian team has already landed in Sydney, where they are undergoing a mandatory 14 day quarantine.

Talking about his opening combination for the high-stakes Test series, Langer wanted to continue with the pairing of Joe Burns and David Warner. He was quoted on the ICC website:

“Last time we played Test cricket, we loved the combination of Joe Burns and David Warner. They’ve got a real synergy; they work well together. So, at this point, I’d say that’ll remain the same.

The tour begins with the ODI series, beginning on November 27. The first Test, however, will commence from December 17 at Adelaide.

India had defeated Australia 2-1 (in the Test series) during their last tour in 2018-19 but it must be noted that their star players, Steve Smith and David Warner, were not playing that series – serving an year-long ban for the infamous ball tampering incident.

While Victorian batsman Will Pucovski has given a brilliant account of himself in the Sheffield Shield (Australian First-class competition), Langer remained adamant on the out of form Joe Burns, who has the highest score of 29 in his five innings this year.

“When guys have done a really good job for us – like in this case that Joe and Davey did for us last summer – there’s a reason we’re ranked the No.1 team in Test cricket,” said the former Australia batsman.

Pucovski had scored successive double hundreds for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield this season and fans called for his immediate inclusion into the Aussie Test domain. Langer, though, emphasised the importance of backing players who have done well previously.

“We should never underestimate the job the guys have done to get us to where we are. We went through a period when there were lots of ins and outs, and in my view we should back the guys in there. That can change, but it’s a pretty strong philosophy to stick to,” he said.