Australia has dropped Nathan McSweeney from the squad for the final two Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against India. In his place, 19-year-old opening batter Sam Konstas has been called up for the remainder of the BGT series.
Sam earned his first call as the Australian side is looking to shake things up at the top order as they struggle against Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah.
Nathan McSweeney debuted in the series opener in Perth but he has not been effective at the top order. He has scores of 10, 0, 39, 10*, 9, and 4 in the three Tests so far. At the start of the series, Konstas was in the running for the opening spot left by David Warner. However, the management decided to go ahead with McSweeney.
Konstas has been performing well in the domestic circuit to earn this call-up. He will come into the dressing room on the back of an unbeaten 73 against India A last month. He also scored 107 in the pink ball warm-up game for the Prime Minister’s XI.
After that, he scored 88 for New South Wales against Western Australia earlier this month. Apart from this, he has also scored a 27 ball 46 for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League as well. So, it looks like Australia is getting some reinforcement up the order to counter the Bumrah threat.
“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.”
This was the statement of George Bailey, the Chair of Selectors. He further elaborated, “We remain confident Nathan has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level in the future. 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.”
Now that Hazlewood is out of the India Series, they’ve brought back Sean Abbott and Beau Webster. In addition, they have also included Jhye Richardson as well.
Bailey further explained, “In the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Jhye provides further options in the fast-bowling space. It has been pleasing to see his successful return throughout the early part of the domestic summer.”
