Australia set for unchanged XI on Boxing Day

Coach Justin Langer has all but confirmed Australia will take an unchanged XI into the Boxing Day Test, saying he'd have to be "pretty courageous" to change a team that won so convincingly in Adelaide.

Two days out from the second Vodafone Test, Langer said Australia would take the same side into the match at the MCG unless there's an unexpected injury in the next two days.

"I'd be a pretty courageous man to change the XI for this Test match after the last one," Langer said.

"At this stage, unless something happens over the next few days – and things can happen in the world we live in – we'll go in with the same XI, I'd say."

Yesterday, David Warner was ruled out of the second Test due to the groin injury he suffered last month as well as complications regarding Sydney's recent COVID19 outbreak.

It means the new opening pairing of Joe Burns and Matthew Wade will get another chance at the top of the order against India before Warner looks to return later in the series.

A crowd of up to 30,000 will be in on Boxing Day, which will be the first time spectators have been allowed into the MCG since the Australian women's team won the Twenty20 World Cup final in March.

While the atmosphere will be different to a normal Melbourne Test, where up to 90,000 people fill the stadium, Langer is just happy to be at the MCG at all.

"30,000 is better than none. It wasn't that long ago, probably a few months ago, we wondered whether we would have a Boxing Day Test in Melbourne," he said.

"Every time I come here, I pinch myself. It's just an amazing stadium.

"There's so much hype about it and the boys love playing here."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT