India vs Australia: Will Pucovski needs to face own fears regarding short ball, says Chris Rogers

Sydney: Former Australia opener and A team assistant coach Chris Rogers feels that concussed opener Will Pucovski will have to face his fears with regards the short ball if he wants to be ready for the Boxing Day Test against India in Melbourne.

Pucovski was hit on the head by India's reserve pacer Kartik Tyagi during the day-night practice match at the Drummoyne Oval and looked shaken.

As a result, he has been withdrawn from the first Test in Adelaide, starting 17 December.

"Time is gold. From my own experience, you just need a bit of time to get over it, and then get back in the nets, almost go through your process again, face your fears down a little bit and almost get back on the horse," Rogers was quoted as saying by 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

Will Pucovski was ruled out of 1st Australia-India test after being hit on the head during the practice match. AFP

The former Test opener believes that Pucovski has it in him to put it all together in time for the second Test starting 26 December.

"Every day is going to count for him. And now he has a bit more time to prepare for (the second Test in) Melbourne, that's going to help. He's been through it before and keeps coming out the other side, so he's definitely shown resilience around it."

Rogers, who is also the Victoria state coach, has earlier worked with Pucovski to help him deal with bouncers.

"I know he's done so much work on playing the short ball and he just made a mistake. Sometimes you don't always get it right," he said.

Rogers said that even Sheffield Shield bowlers tried to bounce him out and it would be wrong to think he has a problem with the short ball.

"But what people might not know is he played a couple of Shield games and they tried to bounce him from almost the 10th over, for his whole innings, and he got two double hundreds.

"So he has actually been playing that short ball pretty well – he just made one little mistake.

"But I think he has enough confidence in what he is doing, that if he had that opportunity (to play Test cricket), he'd be able to go out and take on the Indian bowlers."