Sam Konstas Debut Against India in Melbourne Test: The Australian team is going to give 19-year-old Sam Constas a chance to debut in the Boxing Day Test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia has high expectations from the young opening batsman in this important match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Cricket lovers are very excited about Sam, who hails from New South Wales, and the selectors want to see him giving a tough challenge to the Indian bowlers.
Contas’s strong record
The basis of Sam Constas’ selection is his recent performance. In the 2024 Big Bash League, he opened with David Warner for Sydney Thunder and scored 57 runs in just 26 balls. This innings became the fastest half-century in the history of Sydney Thunder.
Sam had scored a brilliant 107 runs while playing for Prime Minister’s XI against India. In this innings, he faced experienced bowlers like Mohammad Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja. At the same time, in the unofficial test match against India A, he scored unbeaten 73 runs and led his team to victory.
Big change in team selection
Australia announced a 15-member squad on December 20 for the last two Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. So far both the teams are tied at 1-1 in this series. The selectors took a big decision and dropped 25-year-old Nathan McSweeney from the team. McSweeney scored only 72 runs in three Test matches and struggled against the Indian bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah.
India-Australia teams for Melbourne and Sydney Test
- India: India team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Reserve: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khalil Ahmed, Yash Dayal - Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vice-captain), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vice-captain ), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
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