Andrew McDonald Confident About Head's Fitness For 4th Test

Australian Head Coach Andrew McDonald is confident of Travis Head playing the boxing day test against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy at the iconic 'G' aka The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Head, had a minor quad strain while batting in the second innings at the Gabba. This resulted in Head not coming out on the field during India's batting in the fourth innings of the drawn Gabba test.

Head since then has been training at the 'G', their head coach Andrew McDonald believes that head will pull it through for the match. Head, has been one of thorns in India's flesh in the last year or so, & in this series too he is leading run scorer with 2 tons & a fifty (409 runs). KL Rahul is second at the list with 235 runs.

McDonald on Head

"There's no concern at the moment, he was batting well through the session, I can't really whether he has been ticked of or not as I didn't saw the backend of the session, but I feel he'll pull through"

"I think he looked good with the bat so obviously the skills are in great shape, it's just the risks that lie with the strain, he was running well during the training sessions, so I think he'll be good to go " the coach added.

Meanwhile coach also confirmed that Sam Konstas has been named in the XI for the 4th test at Melbourne at the expense of Nathan McSweeney who was dropped from the squad owing to poor form. Australia's chief selector George Bailey also stated that he wanted to throw something different at the Indian team. McDonald echoed Bailey's words and said that Konstas has the ability to counterattack and put the pressure back on the opposition.

McDonald On Konstas Selection

"We wanted some clarity in our batting unit before the all-important team meeting before the game, this usually doesn't happen with us because we don't have so many changes into our squad, but this is something important and the members need to know that he's in the team" McDonald said.

"He is exactly the same bloke whom I saw from the outside, a guy with great shots, has the ability to put the pressure back to the bowlers, and to make his debut on a boxing day test is something I'm very excited about"

The Australians did well after the loss at Perth but Usman Khawaja's dismal run is still a concern for the home side with the scores reading 8, 4, 13, 9*, 21 and 8 in the six innings so far. Andrew McDonald though has thrown the weight behind his batter and trusts him to come good over the next 2 tests.

McDonald on Khawaja

"I think Uzzie isn't a concern for us, yes he hasn't got the runs, but I think the pitches were also a bit difficult in the opening three tests with the ball dominating the bat, Uzzie has got his plans set & I have a feeling he'll come good in the last 2 tests"

Marnus Labushagne hasn't taken the series by storm, but the coach believes that he'll be seeing an annoying Marnus at the G.

"We know when he is on song, he played a gritty knock at Adelaide that helped us to win the game, we know is eager to get back to the runs, and can be annoying for the opposition as we, we want to see that annoying Marnus over the next 2 weeks."