Aussies make change for Boxing Day Test

Australia have made one change to their XI for the third Domain Test, with Mitchell Marsh called in for Peter Handscomb.

Skipper Tim Paine revealed his side for the Boxing Day Test following Australia’s Christmas morning training session at the MCG.

Meanwhile India have suffered a blow with team management confirming spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has not fully recovered from an abdominal strain and won't be available for the MCG Test, with the BCCI also confirming their XI.

Mayank Agarwal will make his debut, while openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay have both been axed.

Australia XI: Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India XI: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

"It's a long series, our bowlers have had a really big workload and we feel we're going to need Mitch's bowling at some point," Paine told reporters.

"I'm sure Pete would be upset. I think he's had conversations with the selectors that there's a few things they would like him to work on and Pete is open to that.

"Pete at his best is going to score a lot of Test runs and not just his batting, he brings a hell of a lot to our side in terms of his fielding, his experience and just the way he generally goes about his cricket.

"We're sure he'll score a lot more runs for Australia."

Paine said he didn't believe dropping a player from a winning XI would impact Australia's momentum in the four-game series.

"No I don't think so, we did it last year during the Ashes as well. The majority of this decision's been based around it's a long series, we've played on a lot of hot days and our bowlers have had a big workload. 

"We believe Mitch can come in and do a really good job with the bat and obviously he'll give great support to our bowlers."

Marsh was dropped for the opening two Tests of the series but the MCG pitch, and Handscomb’s form across the matches in Adelaide and Perth, brought the Western Australian back into calculations.

Handscomb’s scored 34, 14, 7 and 13 across those four innings and his lbw dismissal in Perth, pinned deep in his crease by Ishant Sharma, prompted Shane Warne to liken the under-pressure batsman to "a lamb to the slaughter".

Paine said Handscomb would come into consideration for the fourth Test at the SCG, typically the most spin-friendly of the Australian pitches.

"Going to Sydney, a place where it normally spins, I think people come back into the fold pretty quickly because he's renowned as probably our best player of spin," Paine said.

"I know he'll be doing everything he can to get back into the side."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar