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Australia announced their playing eleven on Christmas day for the fourth Test against India, beginning in Melbourne on Thursday, with two changes from the team that played in Brisbane.
There’s a sigh of relief in the camp as the in-form batter Travis Head passed his fitness test on Wednesday to retain his place, as confirmed by captain Pat Cummins who also revealed the two changes.
Teenager Sam Konstas‘s international debut, replacing opener Nathan McSweeney, has been officially confirmed, while Scott Boland will take the place of injured pacer Josh Hazlewood.
Konstas, aged 19, is set to become the youngest Australian to make his Test debut since Cummins played his debut match against South Africa at Johannesburg in November 2011 as an 18-year-old.
Konstas threw his hat in the ring with a century (107 off 97 balls) against the Indian team during the pink-ball warm-up match at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
“I just remember being really excited and it’s similar for Sammy this week,” said Cummins. “There’s a level of naivety that you just want to go out and play, like you do when you were a kid in the backyard; you just want to take the game on and have fun and not overthink.
“That’s the message to Sam. That’s definitely how I felt as an 18-year-old. I was just really excited, and once the game started, you go into game-mode and it’s just like any other game.”
Cummins also expressed his relief to see Head passing the fitness test to stay in the eleven. The left-handed batter leads the series’ scoring charts with 409 runs in five innings at an average of 81.80, including two centuries.
“It feels like the last 12 months, he’s been in this unbelievable vein of form and he just keeps going on with it,” said the skipper. “He’s hitting the ball really cleanly. You can see the pressure that he shifts back onto the opposition literally from the first ball that he walks out there.
“I’m loving that he’s in our team and I don’t have to try to set a field and bowl to him. He’s hitting the ball as well as I’ve ever seen anyone. So long may it continue.”
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
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