Australia’s in-form batter and India’s nemesis Travis Head passed a fitness test on Wednesday to retain his place in Australia’s playing eleven, which the hosts announced on the eve of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Announcing the eleven playing members for the match in Melbourne Cricket Ground beginning on Thursday, captain Pat Cummins confirmed the two expected changes.
“Trav’s good to go, he’ll play,” said the home team’s captain . “He just kicked off some final things today and yesterday. But no worries about injury with Trav. He’ll go into the game fully fit.”
Opener Sam Konstas will make his debut, replacing Nathan McSweeney, and pacer Scott Boland returned to the eleven for the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Head suffered a quad strain during the third Test in Brisbane and his fitness was under a cloud, until he passed the fitness Test held on Thursday during the Christmas Day optional training session, which included various running drills.
Cummins also revealed that Head, the leading run-scorer of this series so far, also had a short net session. However, the team might have to manage if he feels any discomfort while fielding during the match.
“I don’t think you’ll see too much management of him throughout the game. He just kind of plays as is. Maybe around fielding, if he’s a bit uncomfortable, we will (manage him), but he’s fully fit,” said Cummins.
Head leads the batting charts by a mile, having scored 409 runs in his five innings so far at an average of 81.80, including two centuries. The second-placed batter in the list is India’s KL Rahul with 235 runs in six innings.
“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 Aussie pacer. “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.”
With the Border Gavaskar Trophy and a place in the World Test Championship final at stake, the five-Test series is delicately placed at 1-1 after three matches. India won the first Test in Perth by 295 runs, and Australia came back to level things up with a 10-wicket victory in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
The third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane ended in a draw.
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland