Team India will have one eye on the World Test Championships (WTC) final when they go up against Australia in the fourth Test of the five-match series – the ‘Boxing Day’ Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from Thursday. The visitors are set to ring in some major changes with the series level at 1-1 after the drawn third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane last week.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who played at the No. 6 position in the second and third Test at Adelaide and Brisbane, is set to return to the opening position at the MCG. Rohit had missed the first Test in Perth, which India won by 295 runs, after the birth of his second child.
KL Rahul has opened the batting in the first three Test and is the leading run-scorer for Team India with 235 runs in 6 innings at an average of 47. But with Rohit returning to the opening position, according to reports, Rahul will be dropping down to the No. 3 position in place of Shubman Gill.
As an opener, Rohit has 2,659 runs with 9 centuries and has struggled to fire in the No. 6 position so far in the Test series. Gill, who looked impressive in the ‘Pink Ball’ Test in Adelaide after missing the Perth game due to injury, has also struggled in the No. 3 position.
It is still unclear where Gill will be batting in the ‘Boxing Day’ Test but presumably it should be No. 6 if India decide to stick with Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant at No. 4 and 5 position.
TWO SPINNERS AT MCG FOR INDIA
– Washington Sundar is likely to replace Nitish Kumar Reddy in the Boxing Day Test. [Sahil Malhotra from TOI] pic.twitter.com/C0Zn2PHIYv
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 25, 2024
Team India are also likely to go into the MCG game with two spinners and three spinners. As a result, young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy – who has impressed with the bat in the three Tests – set to make way for Washington Sundar.
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder will partner Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an impressive half-century at the Gabba in his first game of the Test series.
Meanwhile, Australia have received a big boost with batter Travis Head being declared fit for the MCG Test. Head, who won back-to-back ‘Player-of-the-match’ awards, is the leading run-scorer in the series with 409 runs in 5 matches at an average of 81.8.
“Trav’s good to go, he will play. He just ticked off some final things today and yesterday. But no worries about injury with Trav. He will go into the game fully fit,” Australian captain Pat Cummins said on the eve of the fourth Test.
“I do not think you will see too much management of him throughout the game. He just kind of plays as is. Maybe around fielding, if he is a bit uncomfortable, we will (manage him), but he is fully fit,” Cummins added.
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
