Konstas, Richardson called up for Boxing Day showdown

Australia is poised to unleash their youngest Test batting debutant in more than 70 years with teenage sensation Sam Konstas today called into a 15-player squad for the final two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series against India.

Konstas has been added at the expense of opener Nathan McSweeney, with fast bowler Jhye Richardson also included having recovered from a wretched run with injuries since the most recent Test appearance of his three Test appearances to date in the 2021-22 Ashes.

Fellow quick Sean Abbott also returns to the squad for the remaining NRMA Insurance Tests at Melbourne and Sydney, as well as uncapped Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster who was added prior to the second Test in Adelaide.

McSweeney has been omitted after a lean start to his international career, while the calf injury Josh Hazlewood sustained during the drawn third Test in Brisbane sees him ruled out for the remainder of the Test summer.

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head (vc), Steve Smith (vc), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

But it's the decision to fast-track Konstas as the only other specialist opener alongside Usman Khawaja (with auxiliary batter Josh Inglis regarded a middle-order option) that has raised expectations of a bold gamble by Australia's selectors.

Should the right-hander receive a Baggy Green cap on Boxing Day he would become Australia's youngest Test debutant since current skipper Pat Cummins who was 18 years 193 days when he took the field against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2011.

It would also make Konstas the second-youngest player – and the youngest specialist batter – to debut for Australia since another ex-captain Ian Craig who was labelled 'the next Bradman' when he played against South Africa at the MCG in 1953 aged 17 years 239 days.

Konstas, who turned 19 on October 2 this year, has made a blazing start to his first full summer in senior career cricket after starring at the under-19 World Cup in South Africa early this year.

He posted 152 and 105 in New South Wales' Sheffield Shield opener against South Australia, then made an unbeaten 73 for Australia A at the MCG against an India A attack that included incumbent Test allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

And in his maiden BBL outing for Sydney Thunder this week, the opener thrashed the team's fastest-ever half-century in plundering 56 from 27 balls against Adelaide Strikers to underscore his stroke-making capabilities.

When Konstas fronted a media conference in the wake of that innings he was understandably reluctant to ponder the possibility of a meteoric rise to Test ranks, but conceded a Boxing Day debut would be surreal.

"It would be a dream come true," he said of the prospect of joining Test ranks before a sold-out crowd at the MCG next Thursday.

"Maybe I’d get a little nervous before the game, but I’ve worked really hard for that.

"Hopefully, it happens one day, but we’ll see."

The most recent Australia opener to make their Test debut under the spotlight of the nation's most celebrated cricket day was another New South Welshman Ed Cowan, who scored 68 on Boxing Day against India in 2011.

The only opener to post a century on debut at the famous ground remains Charles Bannerman whose unbeaten 165 came in the inaugural Test match against England in 1877.

McSweeney can consider himself a victim of extraordinary circumstances, having been installed at the top of the order with virtually no first-class pedigree as an opener at series' start only to face the most potent strike bowler to ply his trade in Australia, Jasprit Bumrah.

But as national selection panel chair George Bailey indicated today in announcing Konstas's elevation, it was a need to find a batter able to take the game to India's quicks (with McSweeney's strike rate just 34 per 100 balls faced) that prompted the change.

"We remain confident Nathan has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level in the future," Bailey said.

"It was a difficult decision to leave him out.

"It has clearly been a challenge at the top of the order for batters throughout the series and we want to provide the option of a different line-up for the next two matches.

"Sam gets a call up to the Test squad for the first time.

"His style of batting offers a point of difference and we look forward to watching his game develop further."

With Hazlewood sidelined for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series, Scott Boland is expected to return to the line-up at a venue where he has captured 10 Test wickets at an average of 13.8 from his two appearances.

The only contemporary bowler to have taken 10 or more wickets at the MCG with a lower average than Boland's is India's wrecking ball Bumrah whose 15 scalps have cost just 13.1 runs apiece.

Richardson's recall comes despite the right-armer having played just one first-class game in the past year, a Sheffield Shield fixture for Western Australia against South Australia at Adelaide Oval where he picked up 3-47 and 1-38 with the pink ball.

He also suffered a minor shoulder injury in that game when a high-five celebration went wrong after claiming wickets with successive deliveries, but he returned with a match-winning return of 3-19 for Perth Scorchers in their BBL opener last weekend.

"In the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Jhye provides further options in the fast-bowling space," Bailey said today.

"It has been pleasing to see his successful return throughout the early part of the domestic summer."

With just three days' rest between the scheduled end of the fourth Test at the MCG and start of the final match in Sydney (on January 3), bowling stocks of both teams will be stretched with the series currently level at 1-1.

However, it's the woes that have afflicted Australia's top-order batting that looms as their biggest impediment to reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that India have held since 2017.

Khawaja's average of 12.6 (highest score 21) is the lowest he's recorded in a series of two or more Tests, overtaking the 13.75 (top score 26) he managed in two appearances in Sri Lanka eight years ago that cost him his place in the starting XI.

His now-deposed opening partner McSweeney found the going similarly tough, with his return of 72 runs at 14.4 the lowest by an Australia Test opener in their first six innings since Wally Edwards' career ended in 1974 with 68 at an average of 11.3.

Despite his invaluable 64 in the first innings of the second Test at Adelaide, Marnus Labuschagne's 82 runs at 16.4 represents his second-lowest average in a Test series after the 19 (at 6.3) he posted in the two-match outing against West Indies last summer.

And after an impressive 47 from 67 balls in Australia's second innings of the current series opener at Perth, allrounder Mitchell Marsh has failed to reach double figures in his subsequent four times at bat.

A common denominator in that litany of low scores has been India's irrepressible spearhead Bumrah who has snared the wickets of Khawaja and McSweeney four times each across six innings, with the scalps of Labuschagne (twice) and Marsh (once).

Of the 18 visiting bowlers to have claimed 50 or more Test wickets in Australia, none have recorded a superior strike rate to Bumrah's remarkable record of a breakthrough every 41 deliveries.

In the immediate aftermath of the rain-affected draw at the Gabba, where Australia suffered another collapse that left them 5-33 in the second innings, Cummins went into bat for his struggling top-order teammates.

"I think the trend in world cricket – pretty much all around the world – is the top three is a really hard place to bat at the moment," he said.

"Particularly here in Australia, the wickets are tough.

"I think there's little snippets (of performances) that have been important.

"That first innings (at the Gabba), Trav (century maker Travis Head) walks in 35 overs into the game, which I think makes a big difference.

"Same in Adelaide. So obviously they'd be hoping to score more runs, (and) we'd like them to score more runs, but I think they have made some important contributions that others have benefited from."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), 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. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal