IND vs AUS: India, after their dominating win in the Perth test, could not majorly resist the brute force of the Australians, especially at the Gabba when it seemed an inevitable victory for the Aussies; the rain gods favored the Men in Blue.
The Australians, who lacked immensely in the first test, especially in their batting department, bounced back in the second Adelaide test, where Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne jumped back to form and Head reached his first hundred of the series.
After having lost the pink-ball test, the Indians hoped to bounce back during the Gabba test; however, the Australians, who batted first, found their veteran batter, Steven Smith, alongside Travis Head, scoring hundreds each to give Australia a huge total in the first inning.
However, what the Aussies have lacked in their batting order is a strong consolidating batting performance at the top of the order, as Usman Khawaja has been considerably out of touch while also Nathan McSweeney, the newly picked youngster, has failed to perform properly.
McSweeney has failed to score even 100 runs over the 3 games; over the 6 innings he played for the Australians, he failed to impress with his performance. However, Australian selectors have now considered the much-awaited debut of youngster Sam Konstas.
Konstas was part of the U-19 Australian team in 2023 that won the U-19 World Cup, and later he was rocked with his Sheffield Shield debut, as he stunned with his performance.
Konstas, who also played for the Prime Minister’s XI against India in the practice game after the Perth test, was the only batter to score a hundred, which came at a very healthy strike rate above 100.
Konstas might hence be an asset to the Australian side, considering the 19-year-old makes his debut in one of cricket’s most iconic grounds, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in one of the most renowned matches, the Boxing Day test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
