India eye comeback in Boxing Day clash

India’s Captain Rohit Sharma (left) and Australia’s Captain Pat Cummins

The fourth Test match between Australia and India will commence at the MCG in Melbourne today.  

If India wins at the MCG, they retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. If Australia win, they remain on track for a first series win over India in a decade. 

A defeat for the home side would trigger significant questions while if India lose, their World Test Championship (WTC) fate is out of their hands, although retaining the series trophy would remain possible. 

With a good forecast, a draw would appear an unlikely result, particularly given the ground’s recent history. And whatever unfolds on Boxing Day could take place in front of more than 90,000 spectators.

It’s only been few days since the damp end to proceedings at the Gabba, but a lot has happened. If you weren’t aware of the scoreline, it may feel like India are ahead given Australia have been forced into a change at the top of the order to try and counterpunch against Jasprit Bumrah. 

It means 19-year-old Sam Konstas will make an extraordinary debut after just 11 First-Class matches.

Australia’s top order remains under scrutiny amid the call to drop Nathan McSweeney in favour of Konstas at such a crucial moment in the series while senior batters Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne remain low on runs. 

Travis Head, who picked up a quad niggle in Brisbane but is good to go has been the game-changer while Steven Smith’s hundred was timely and by the end of it he was playing very fluently.

The fact that Scott Boland can slot back in at a ground he has enjoyed so much success on (headlined by his 6 for 7 against England in 2021-22) shows the pace-bowling depth Australia have.

It may just be what makes the difference, although don’t count out Bumrah being able to win it almost on his own for India, who have not lost a Test at the MCG since 2011.

The teams 

India (From): Rohit Sharma (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, K. L. Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Tanush Kotian.

Australia (From): Pat Cummins (Captain), Travis Head (Vice-Captain), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson and Beau Webster. (Agencies)