PUCOVSKI PASSES BUMPER TRIAL

ONCE a happy hooker, Will Pucovski appears to have heeded advice to reclaim the pull shot in a bid to stamp out any short-ball fears he took into a long-awaited Test debut.

Pucovski has been described as the brightest batsman of a generation, a natural talent who could lock down a spot in the Test team for the next decade, according to Australia’s leading run-scorer Ricky Ponting.

But the pitfalls for Pucovski are well known. Against India one month ago he ducked into a short ball from Indian net bowler Kartik Tyagi in a tour match and suffered the ninth concussion of his career.

That prompted former Australian captain Ian Chappell to declare he needed to come up with a new strategy for the short ball: take it on and bring back the hook shot.

India had promised not to hold back with the chin music, determined to prod at the 23year-old’s perceived weakness and on Thursday waited just five deliveries before testing out the theory.

The only problem was Jasprit Bumrah’s bouncer soared high over the youngster’s head.

Short deliveries were dotted throughout Pucovski’s 62run innings, and he handled them with increasing confidence as he grew into his new life as a Test opener.

In the sixth over, he signalled his intent by attacking some Siraj short stuff — even with a man lurking on the boundary waiting for him to fall into India’s trap.

A top edge that evaded the fielder before bouncing over the boundary rope at fine leg was far from convincing, but showed Pucovski wasn’t going to back down.

He crushed back-to-back short balls off fellow debutant Navdeep Saini to the fence with a back foot cut and a pull shot from outside off stump — the latter bringing up his maiden half-century.

Pucovski offered a chance off a pull-gone-wrong — when a chance ballooned off his gloves only to be dropped by keeper Rishabh Pant.

It was perhaps the first indication that India’s short-ball plans could have an impact on the young star.