Australia win toss, bat in fourth Test against India

Text size

Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.

The match begins in hot conditions with temperatures expected to reach 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) and a crowd of over 90,000 expected.

The five-match series is tied 1-1 after India won by 295 runs in Perth before being crushed by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane was drawn.

For Australia, 19-year-old Sam Konstas will make his debut, opening alongside veteran Usman Khawaja after Nathan McSweeney was removed.

He is one of two changes, with seamer Scott Boland coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood.

“There’s a bit of a grass like an old MCG wicket. Feels nice and firm,” Cummins said.

“Sam will open the batting and Scott will also come in for Hazlewood.”

India made a change, bringing in Washington Sundar as another spin option and dropping number three Shubman Gill.

“We would have batted as well,” said skipper Rohit Sharma, who said he would return for the opening game despite being listed as three in the squad.

“It’s a good pitch but we bowl first and we have to bowl well.”

Australia: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep

Referees: Joel Wilson (WIS), Michael Gough (ENG)

TV referee: Sharfuddoula Saikat (BAN)

Referee of the match: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

mp/dhc