Former Baggy Greens captain Mark Taylor has been highly critical of Ashton Agar after the left-arm orthodox spinner was snubbed for the first two tests in India.
Agar has not been involved since going wicketless at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January, during the Aussies' dominant series win over South Africa.
Following current skipper Pat Cummins' comments on the effectiveness of a left-arm orthodox spinner against right-handed batsmen in the subcontinent earlier this year, Agar was highly anticipated to be amongst the Australian attack ahead of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
After being left out of the playing XI for the first Test, Agar was tipped to get his chance due to Mitchell Swepson's unavailability for the second test. Instead, 26-year-old Matthew Kuhnemann was called up and immediately thrown into the mix over Agar to aid Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy on a soft, turning wicket at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Taylor was hence left worried about Agar's future involvement as an Australian Test player. In a conversation with Wide World of Sports, he said:
"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."
"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.
"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."
The 29-year-old Western Australian has not had a test career-high quite like the 98 runs with the bat against England in 2013. And with the ball, Agar has taken just 9 Test wickets across 10 innings at an average of 52.
Taylor remained convinced that Agar's future as a test cricketer seems bleak and also said that playing Kuhnemann at the SCG "would have been a better punt to take".
With the Indians already retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy post taking a 2-0 lead, the Aussies have a chance to fight back and draw the series by winning the remaining two tests but will have to significantly improve to avoid further embarrassment.
Agar and the Australians will earn their opportunity for redemption when facing India in the third Test starting on Wednesday, March 1 in Indore.
