New Delhi: Explosive Australia batter Travis Head was declared fit to play in the Boxing Day Test against India on Wednesday after shaking off a quad muscle strain.
The left hander suffered the strain during the drawn third Test at Brisbane, later saying that he felt ‘sore’ though he remained bullish about playing the fourth Test.
In Australia’s Christmas Day optional training session on Wednesday, Head underwent a stringent fitness test that consisted of running drills and expressed no discomfort while undergoing them apart from having a short net session.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins said Head is raring to have a go against the Indian bowlers, having struck two centuries in three matches to become the leading scorer of the series.
“Trav’s good to go, he’ll play. He just kicked off some final things today and yesterday. But no worries about injury with Trav. He’ll go into the game fully fit,” Cummins told reporters.
“I don’t think you’ll see too much management of him throughout the game. He just kind of plays as is. Maybe around fielding, if he’s bit uncomfortable, we will (manage him), but he’s fully fit.”
Cummins added that Head has been in unbelievable form in the past year and hoped he carried it forward in the remaining two matches of the series.
“It feels like the last 12 months, he’s been in this unbelievable vein of form and he just keeps going on with it,” said Cummins.
“He’s hitting the ball really cleanly. You can see the pressure that he shifts back onto the opposition literally from the first ball that he walks out there.
“I’m loving that he’s in our team and I don’t have to try to set a field and bowl to him. He’s hitting the ball as well as I’ve ever seen anyone. So long may it continue.”
Boland returns, Konstas to debut
Australia made two changes to their playing XI for the game with debutant opener Sam Konstas to debut replacing Nathan McSweeney and pacer Scott Boland coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood.
The 19-year-old is set to be Australia’s youngest ever opener and youngest since Cummins’ debut as an 18-year-old in 2011. Konstas’ 19-year age gap with 38-year-old Usman Khawaja is believed to be the widest between opening partners in Test history.
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
Travis Head suffered a quad strain during the drawn third Test at Brisbane, later saying that he felt ‘sore’ though he remained bullish about playing the Boxing Day Test. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
