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Sam Konstas will open the batting for Australia in the fourth Test against India, coach Andrew McDonald said on Tuesday, while expressing confidence that top batsman Travis Head will be fit to play.
Konstas was called up after the selectors dropped Nathan McSweeney after just three Tests, with the 19-year-old tasked with fending off Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah alongside an underperforming Usman Khawaja.
“He’ll play on Boxing Day,” McDonald told reporters, calling the teenager “composed, relaxed.”
“We said from the beginning, until this summer, that we would not be afraid and that age was not a barrier.
“What he has shown is range of shots and an ability to put pressure on his opponents and he gets his opportunity.
“Really excited for him – Boxing Day, the biggest stage.”
Konstas will become Australia’s youngest Test debutant since current skipper Pat Cummins faced South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011.
It could be a baptism of fire, with 90,000 fans expected at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and temperatures forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Thursday.
Konstas came into his own after becoming the youngest player since Ricky Ponting to score two centuries in the same Sheffield Shield match.
He also criticized a century for the Prime Minister’s XI against India.
The five-match series is tied 1-1 after India won by 295 runs in Perth before being crushed by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane was drawn.
Head is the series’ top scorer, plundering aggressive centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane. But he suffered a slight thigh strain at the Gabba.
McDonald said he expected him to play, but Head still had “some things to sort out.”
“I am convinced that he will play,” he added.
“He was able to run. I think he will be fully functional by game time.”
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