Justin Langer fires back at critics after T20 flop as injuries, COVID force Test series rethink

Australia coach Justin Langer has fired back at "critics" of his decision to rest star fast bowler Pat Cummins and has no regrets despite losing the Twenty20 series against India.

Cummins is on ice until the first Test on December 17 and his absence was compounded when Mitchell Starc (family illness) and Josh Hazlewood (back) were also ruled out of Sunday's second T20 loss in Sydney.

"There's been a lot of talk about Pat not playing but if he hadn't spent a few days at home in this period then he might not have gone home until June," Langer said.

"For any critics out there, imagine not going home for that period of time.

"We're going to manage him and make sure we're ready for the Test series.

"There has to be isolation... we couldn't bring him back.

"We're always considering the big picture.

"We know we've got a big Test series coming up."

The frontline pace trio weren't the only ones missing at the SCG.

Opening batsmen David Warner (groin) and Aaron Finch (glute) were both out along with spinning all-rounder Ashton Agar (calf), leading to questions around Australia's fitness and preparation amid the complexities and difficulties of operating in a COVID-19 environment.

"I actually addressed the CA board the other day," Langer said, admitting it was now "very, very tempting" to keep Test players in Sydney for a pink ball tour game against India that starts on Friday.

The Test players had been slated to fly to Adelaide to prepare.

"Each injury has its own individual reasons but that's one of the challenges we've got with such tight schedules... we've got six injuries now, which is really unusual.

"We'll obviously review it.

"That's one of the challenges moving forward, when guys are playing all the tours, different sorts of preparations.

"There's other challenges.

"Some of the simplicity of our past lives is not there."