Sam Konstas has been confirmed to make his Test debut on Boxing Day while Travis Head remains as an uncertainty
Sam Konstas will become the 468th Australian men’s Test player on Boxing Day but star batter Travis Head is under a fitness cloud ahead of the crunch fourth NRMA Insurance Test against India.
Coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Christmas Eve that Konstas would make his Test debut, with the 19-year-old to become the youngest to pull on the Baggy Green since an 18-year-old Pat Cummins made his bow in 2011.
Konstas shows versatility in first hit-out with Aussies
But Head is not a certain starter. McDonald declared on Tuesday he picked up a quad strain during the third Test at the Gabba. While he was confident Head will be passed fit, the star batter still had some hoops to jump through.
More to come.
NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India
First Test: India won by 295 runs
Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets
Third Test: Match drawn
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj , Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal
