MELBOURNE: Teenager Sam Konstas will make his test debut in the cauldron of the Boxing Day test at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday as Australia look to take the game to India’s bowlers, coach Andrew McDonald said on Tuesday.
Konstas, 19, was brought into the squad at the expense of Nathan McSweeney after Australia’s top order struggled for runs in the first three tests of the series, which is tied 1-1 with two games to play.
“He’s composed, relaxed, knows his game is in a good place at the moment, he’ll play Boxing Day,” McDonald told reporters at the MCG.
Unfazed Konstas ready to answer Australia’s call on Boxing Day
“We said from the get-go that age was no barrier. And what he’s shown is an array of shots, the ability to put pressure back onto opponents and he gets his opportunity.
“We’re really excited for him, Boxing Day, the biggest stage. He might as well get that one out of the way early.”
With bowlers, particularly Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, having had the upper hand in the series so far, McDonald said switching McSweeney for Konstas was a tactical move.
“We want to throw a different challenge at India at this point in time,” he said.
“We believe Nathan is good enough for test level. We weren’t sure about how the top order was functioning. We challenged ourselves for that decision. Whether it works or not, time will tell (but) we’re really confident that Sam can do the job.”
McDonald was also confident Travis Head, who has scored 409 runs with two centuries in the first three tests, would be fit to play despite a quad strain preventing him from training on Monday.
“Has he got some things to work through? Yeah, he has,” McDonald said. “There’s no concern at the moment. Has he been officially ticked off? I’m not sure. I didn’t see the back end of his training session there, but I’m pretty confident he’ll play.
“I think he’ll be fully functional come the game time.”
While McDonald said captain Pat Cummins would reveal the rest of the Australia line-up for the match on Wednesday, he all but confirmed that Scott Boland would come in for the injured Josh Hazlewood in the pace attack.
“I don’t think I’m coming to the ground on Boxing Day if Scotty’s not in the 11,” he joked.
McDonald also moved to quash rumours about the health of Mitchell Marsh and suggested the all-rounder would play a bigger role with ball in hand than he did in the drawn third test in Brisbane.
“Mitch Marsh is fully fit and available to bowl,” he said.
“I know that he only bowled two overs last game, and people were speculating around that, but that was more because of the weather interventions so we were able to keep our fast bowlers fresh.”
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