Australia v India Test Series 2024/25

[FrediKanoute]

I actually like the Konstas selection.

I do as well, though I think McSweeney deserved the series to prove himself. We have a changing of the guard during a period of cricket where the game is changing as well.

[FrediKanoute]

This is a great point, I heard on the TV the other night that Tim David made 2 million last year playing across the globe in various T20 comps, the financial reward to dedicate your time to getting good in that space far outweighs working on your longer form skills.
I don’t think the schedule helps either, players like Maxwell haven’t had the chance to play much red ball cricket for a while now.

That is pretty good for a guy most people have barely heard of. Say what you want about 20-20 cricket, but it does provide a pathway for decent strikers of the ball in particular to make a career out of cricket.

[GVGjr]

Apparently there are still some doubts about our team for the Boxing Day test.
Konstas isn't confirmed yet. Head might be injured. Some doubts on Marnus if he might be replaced by Inglis and if Marsh can bowl enough
There will be an announcement to follow

[Bornadog]

Apparently there are still some doubts about our team for the Boxing Day test.
Konstas isn't confirmed yet. Head might be injured. Some doubts on Marnus if he might be replaced by Inglis and if Marsh can bowl enough
There will be an announcement to follow

Konstas debut confirmed, Head under injury cloud for Boxing Day

Blues teen confirmed to make his Test debut while Travis Head will need to pass a fitness test

Sam Konstas will become the 468th Australian men's Test player on Boxing Day but star batter Travis Head remains under a fitness cloud ahead of the crunch fourth NRMA Insurance Test against India.

Coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Christmas Eve that Konstas would make his Test debut, with the 19-year-old to become the youngest to pull on the Baggy Green since an 18-year-old Pat Cummins made his debut in 2011.

[GVGjr]

Usman Khawaja struggles expose huge issue for Australia


Usman Khawaja has underwhelmed so far this series. Damning statistics underline just how much he’s struggled, but they also expose a wider problem for the Australian Test team.


Australia head to the Boxing Day Test with a new opening combination. After a torrid time against Jasprit Bumrah – four dismissals at an average of just 3.75 – Nathan McSweeney has been taken out of the firing line, replaced by 19-year-old rising star Sam Konstas.

There has been, rightly, a lot of scrutiny on the decision to drop the South Australia opener. If he was the right person to open at Perth, he was the right person to see out the series. Dropping someone after three Tests makes it plain that the blame lies with the selectors, not the player themselves.

However, in some ways the concerns for Australia openers is not limited to McSweeney. So far this series, Usman Khawaja has underwhelmed with 63 runs in five visits.

More concerningly though, has been a sense of impermanence, a skittishness we haven’t seen in his game since he returned to the side at the top of the order.

If McSweeney had started more strongly, the pressure on Khawaja would have been just as substantial.

Khawaja’s record against Bumrah had always been quite good. Before this series, he’d faced 154 deliveries from the Indian quick, and hadn’t been dismissed, albeit scoring just 43 runs. Yet this series his performance was only marginally better than his junior partner’s, with four dismissals in 71 balls, averaging 4.25.

It is a very tough task facing a bowler of this quality in this sort of form, with a new ball, but nobody would pretend that this is good enough.

The medium term trends for Khawaja are not awful. Since the World Test Championship final he’s averaging 34, below his high standards – he’d averaged 70 in the two years prior – but by no means catastrophic. One century in 32 innings is a drought without doubt, but players do go through these slumps.
Australia will be looking for a lift from Usman Khawaja. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images Teen debutant Sam Konstas. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

If you were being critical, you would say that Khawaja has become just a bit too easy to bowl to. During this slump, he’s still dominating short balls in the way we’ve become accustomed to, averaging over 70 and scoring briskly. But bowlers know to avoid this now, and keep the ball full – against which he’s averaging 23. Move the ball back into him and Khawaja remains as solid as ever, but swing it away and his average drops from 53 to 19. His dismissals have become a little too repetitive in nature, and opposition attacks have cottoned on.

Optimism is still knocking around though. Khawaja’s record at the SCG is ridiculous, an average of 104 from eight Tests, with four centuries. But the situation Australia have found themselves in is one emblematic of a wider issue – they have got their transition planning wrong.

Sam Konstas may be a generational talent, and it seems more than likely that he’ll have success in Test cricket. But nobody would say that mid series, with a trophy on the line, against perhaps the best fast bowler of all time, is the right time to blood a new batter, let alone the youngest man to ever open the batting for Australia. More Coverage

Backyard dream to baggy green: Konstas’ brothers childhood tales
The devastating danger Sam Konstas must conquer
We’re seeing it with the bowling attack as well. With Josh Hazlewood seemingly out of the remainder of the series, the man called up to potentially replace him is Jhye Richardson, a 28-year-old who has played just three Test matches. Brendan Doggett, who’s also been knocking around the set-up this summer, is 30 years old without a Test cap to his name.

There are reasons to feel sympathetic for the Australian set-up in this regard. They play a remarkably low number of Test matches, particularly away from home: in the last five years England have played 36 overseas Tests, to Australia’s 18. The dominance of the Big Three dictates that India and England, the biggest rivals around whom you plan and aim to peak for, are always around – five of the last eight summers have seen one or the other visit Australian shores. The opportunity to rotate in relatively consequence-free matches, if such a concept exists within the WTC structure, has been limited.

But the opportunities they have had, they have ignored. Whether it’s the experiment of Steve Smith opening the batting, or the reluctance to pick any of the non big four quicks through rotation, Australia have left themselves vulnerable. In very different ways, the two men walking out to open the batting at the MCG on Boxing Day represent gambles, one on the undeniable talent of a youngster, the other on the hope Khawaja has one last job in him. Whether the dice land for them or not, they shouldn’t have found themselves in this situation.

[GVGjr]

Who Simon Katich believes should be dropped from Australia's Test team ahead of Boxing Day clash

Simon Katich believes Mitch Marsh should be making way for Beau Webster ahead of Australia’s clash with India for the Boxing Day Test.

In light of Nathan McSweeney being dropped from the highly anticipated test match, Katich believes the WA all-rounder should be the one that makes way due to his inability to bowl enough overs to relieve the stress off Australia’s other fast bowlers.

“I’ve been saying for a couple tests, Mitch Marsh has not been able to bowl the volume of overs that everyone expected of him. Given the conditions and given he is a wicket taker,” Katich said on SEN Breakfast.

“We saw that in Perth, he bowled well on day one. Took some key wickets and then struggled to back up.

“I mean obviously the Aussie hierarchy know better then we do around where his fitness is at.

“But for him to bowl two overs the other day after Josh Hazlewood went down, that to me indicates something's not 100% right with him.”

The 33-year-old has played in 45 test matches throughout his 10-year career to date, whilst also obtaining 51 wickets.

In this series alone however, Marsh has only been able to obtain three wickets off his 23 overs bowled, including not bowling in Australia’s second fielding innings in both Adelaide and Brisbane.

This has caused Katich and others to believe ‘the Bison’ isn’t fit enough to be able to compete for the rest of the series and would be more interested in turning to a debutant to fulfil the role for the remaining two matches.

“At the end of the day, Beau Webster deserves to be in that squad,” Katich said.

“He’s done very well for Tassie in the last few years, he’s a genuine all-rounder given what his role is for Tassie and he plays that dual role with bat and ball."

Australia takes on India in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test on Thursday, where the winner of the clash will most likely be put in the best possible position to claim the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Sydney in the new year.

[Bornadog]

Team for Boxing Day Test

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


Swamp @sirswampthing

Sam Konstas & Usman Khawaja are set to become the first opening partnership for AUS with an age gap of over 18 years

[GVGjr]

Team for Boxing Day Test

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


Swamp @sirswampthing

Sam Konstas & Usman Khawaja are set to become the first opening partnership for AUS with an age gap of over 18 years

I don't know why but I expect Khawaja to bounce back in this test. I wonder if Marsh is ready for a big bowling assignment if needed in the heat.

[Bornadog]

I don't know why but I expect Khawaja to bounce back in this test. I wonder if Marsh is ready for a big bowling assignment if needed in the heat.

Marsh needs to bowl, otherwise why is he in the team

[Bornadog]

Konstas playing ODI shots? Needs to be a bit more conservative

[Bornadog]

Wow Konstats has got some balls, some incredible shots

[whythelongface]

Wow Konstats has got some balls, some incredible shots

Unbelievable. Not necessarily a fan of this but it is working thus far. Definitely exciting.

[GVGjr]

Regardless of what runs he makes in this test this is incredibly selfish and undisciplined batting.. Good luck to him but he taking too much risk at the top of the order.

[Bornadog]

Unbelievable. Not necessarily a fan of this but it is working thus far. Definitely exciting.

That sort of batting doesn't last long. Hope he can stay in

[whythelongface]

Regardless of what runs he makes in this test this is incredibly selfish and undisciplined batting.. Good luck to him but he taking too much risk at the top of the order..

is it selfish? If that is the way he naturally plays and it has worked why not continue this method. It is risky but thus far has worked. Similar to Harry Brook it is the new way of playing test cricket.