Australia get Head boost, India ponder Rohit switch

In-form Australian batter Travis Head will be fit for the fourth Test and India are considering restoring captain Rohit Sharma to the opener’s slot for the match starting in Melbourne on Thursday.

Batsman Travis Head was declared fit for the Boxing Day Test against India on Wednesday in a big boost for Australia while Scott Boland was confirmed as the injured Josh Hazlewood’s replacement.

Aggressive number five Head is the highest run scorer in the five-match series, plundering centuries at both Adelaide and Brisbane.

He picked up a minor thigh strain at the Gabba and there were lingering concerns about his fitness, but skipper Pat Cummins said the left-hander was fine.

“Trav is good to go, so he will play. He just ticked off some final things today and yesterday,” said Cummins. “No stress, no worries about injury for Trav, so he will go into the game fully fit.

“I don’t think you’ll see too much management of him through the game. Maybe around fielding if he’s a bit uncomfortable, but he’s fully fit,” he added.

Head has slammed 409 runs at an average of 81.80 across the first three Tests, dominating India as other Australian batters have struggled from the threat posed by pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

“It feels like the last 12 months he’s been in this unbelievable vein of form and he just keeps going,” Cummins said of Head.

“He’s hitting the ball really cleanly and you can see the pressure he shifts back onto the opposition, literally from the first ball he walks out there.

“I’m loving that he is in our team. Long may it continue.”

The five-match series is tied at 1-1 after India won by 295 runs in Perth before being crushed by 10 wickets at Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane was drawn.

Cummins confirmed two changes to the team with seamer Boland, as expected, in for the injured Hazlewood.

Teenage opener Sam Konstas had already been locked in to make his debut, replacing Nathan McSweeney.

The 19-year-old Konstas will become Australia’s youngest Test debutant since Cummins took the field against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2011.

“I just remember being really excited and it’s similar for Sammy this week,” said Cummins, looking back to his debut.

“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 back yard, you just want to take the game on and have fun and not overthink it.

“That’s the message to Sam.”

India, lucky to escape with a draw in the rain-blighted third Test, are also considering changing their opening combination.

Captain Rohit missed the opening Test to be with his newborn son in Mumbai and KL Rahul, who replaced him as Yashasvi Jaiswal’s partner, retained his place in Adelaide and Brisbane.

An out-of-form Rohit batted in the middle order in the last two Tests but his run drought continued as he managed only 19 runs in three innings.

Rahul is likely to drop to number three, Indian media reported.

India are also considering bringing in a second spinner at the expense of pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Meanwhile, Rohit wants his team’s other bowlers to ‘step up’ and help pace bowler Bumrah, who has been the standout star of the series.

Ahead of the start of Thursday’s Test and with the five-match series level at 1-1 after the rainy draw at Brisbane, Bumrah has taken 21 wickets at an average of 10.90, while the rest of the Indian bowlers have only five more wickets among them at a higher rate - 26 wickets at 36.81.

“Bumrah is certainly making the most of it. (Mohammed) Siraj and the other guys who are bowling around him obviously know they need to step up to get the job done as well,” said Rohit.

“They’re trying really hard. They’ve been a little unlucky as well, a lot of plays and misses, certain opportunities have gone down as well - those things can happen.”

Rohit said he was ‘fine’ after taking a knock to his knee while batting in the MCG nets on Sunday, but refused to guarantee he would remain at the No. 6 spot from where he has failed to pass 10 in this series.

Agencies