Struggling to see how Agar could play Test cricket again: Taylor

Ashton Agar’s selection for the tour to India was quite a scratchy one. While experience and all-roundedness definitely did tilt the selection in his favour, his form and show over the last few months in the red-ball format was quite a tough pill to swallow. Since 2019, the Western Australian all-rounder had picked up only 20 wickets across 12 encounters, averaging a high 63.5. 

The man who was roped in from Australia – Matthew Kuhnemann – on the other hand, had a staggering average of 35, with 39 wickets, almost twice of Agar’s tally. Not only did it see Kuhnemann leapfrog Agar in the Australian side, it has also left the selectors to release him from the Test setup. 

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Former Australian skipper Mark Taylor expressed his opinion on the left-arm spinner, stating that it is quite a struggle for him to see Agar don the Baggy Green ever again for Australia. 

"It's particularly worrying for Ashton Agar if he does harbour hopes of playing Test cricket again. If he was younger you'd say, 'Well, he can come back from this', but right now I'm struggling to see how he can put this behind him and play Test cricket again,” Taylor told Wide World of Sports. 

Alongside that, Taylor also was puzzled by the management not trusting him after they showed the trust in selecting the left-arm spinner for the Sydney Test against South Africa before the start of the India tour. 

"I don't know what his future is as a Test player. They picked him for the Sydney Test, which I thought was a good selection because they were thinking about the series in India. But then they didn't pick him in India. So, I don't see what sort of future he has left," Taylor added.

With Kuhnemann now leap-frogging the Western Australian all-rounder, Taylor has expressed his doubts over Agar’s return to the Australian setup in the longest format of the game. 

"I've got no doubt now that the selectors will be looking at the development of Matthew Kuhnemann as a left-arm spinner, so I don't know where that leaves Agar."