Melbourne: Australia opener Travis Head passed the fitness Test on Wednesday and has retained his place in the Australian team's playing XI for the fourth Test against India. The hosts revealed the playing XI on the eve of the Boxing Day Test and it included two changes in the lineup.
Skipper Pat Cummins unveiled the two changes in the team during the press conference stating that Sam Konstas will make his Test debut for the national side.
"Trav's good to go, he'll play. 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,” Cummins stated in the press conference.
Opener Sam Konstas will replace Nathan McSweeney while pacer Scott Boland will return to the playing XI instead of injured Josh Hazlewood. Head suffered a quad strain during the third Test of the series in Brisbane and his fitness was doubtful. However, the Australian batter passed his fitness Test on Wednesday and retained his place in the playing XI.
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Cummins confirmed that Head is fully fit but also cautioned that the team might have to manage if he feels a bit of discomfort while fielding.
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 is the leading run-getter in the series so far amassing 409 runs in five innings with an average of 81.80. KL Rahul is the second-highest run-getter with 235 runs in six innings.
The India-Australia Test series is placed at 1-1 after three matches and both the teams will be vying for a victory in the last two matches as a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final is at stake.
