Selection questions loom for Australia ahead of important Boxing Day Test

Despite a dominant display to follow up a stellar performance in Perth, inclement weather ensured that Australia ended up drawing the Brisbane Test against India, and the sides are locked at 1-1 going into the fourth Test of the series.

While there is positive development around Travis Head, whose quad concern is believed to be of a minor nature and will not hamper his participation in Melbourne, and Mitchell Marsh, who sent down a couple of overs in Brisbane to show his readiness with the ball, there are concerns regarding other players.

With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the World Test Championship 2025 final in the sights, Australia must answer some selectorial questions about their key personnel.

Call on the top three

Australia have persisted with the opening combination of Usman Khawaja and newcomer Nathan McSweeney with Marnus Labuschagne at number three, but the trio haven’t exactly shown top form and have struggled against the new ball.

Khawaja has 63 runs at an average of 12.6, while his younger partner McSweeney is slightly better at 72 runs at 14.4. At no. 3, Labuschagne has scored 84 runs at an average of 16.4.

In the post-match presentation, Australia skipper Pat Cummins, however, expressed sympathies for the trio.

“I think the trend in world cricket pretty much all around the world is the top three is a really hard place to bat at the moment. Particularly here in Australia, the wickets are tough. I think there's little snippets that have been important.”

Looking at the positives, Cummins stressed on their gritty stay at the crease, the three have faced a cumulative of 595 deliveries in the game, which meant that they were able to see off the new ball, and allowed the Australian middle-order to make the most of the conditions.

“Again, that first innings, Trav walks in 35 overs into the game. I think that makes a big difference, the same in Adelaide.

“Obviously they would be hoping to score more runs, we'd like them to score more runs, but I think they have made some important contributions that others have benefited from.”

Cummins was referring to the fact that the likes of Travis Head (two centuries), Steve Smith (century at the Gabba), and Alex Carey (70 at the Gabba) have been able to score freely after the ball had become older.

He went on to further laud his middle-order.

“The trend is, it seems like, five, six, seven is sometimes where a bulk of the runs are scored in Test cricket all around the world.

“I spoke ahead of this summer when there was all the talk about batting orders, we didn't really want to move our five, six, seven - they've been so important to many of our wins over the last couple of years.”

Despite the skipper’s vote of confidence, it remains to be seen whether Australia go with all three for the remaining two Tests, especially given Bumrah’s form with the new ball, and Australia’s inability to take off in the first few overs, something that was almost symptomatic of their approach in the David Warner years.

Should a change be in order, the Aussies could fall back on Sam Konstas, who was initially believed to be in line for an opening role for the hosts. While his poor run into the Test series ruled him out of contention, his recent form, including a hundred against India in a tour game for the Prime Minister’s XI and subsequent scores of 88 (in Sheffield Shield) and 56 in Big Bash League make him a potential candidate for Australia.

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The makeup of the pace lineup

Australia’s pacers have been at their very best in the series, leading their comeback in Adelaide, and continuing their dominant display in Brisbane. Cummins and Mitchell Starc have rattled India’s batting time and again with their discipline and pace, securing 14 scalps each over the three games.

However, fitness concerns sidelined Josh Hazlewood from the second Test and limited his participation in the third. It has been confirmed that the pacer will miss the remainder of the series.

“It's one of those [injuries] you can't really predict,” Cummins said in regard to Hazlewood. “But we value him. Unfortunately, he'll miss this series. I don't know exactly when he'll be right to go again but even in the little snippets we've seen this series it shows how much we rate him and how much of an impact he can have.”

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Cummins, however, went on to add that himself and Starc were in good shape going into the next two contests.

“We are feeling really good. It was hot yesterday but we'd had about seven days off bowling after Adelaide so we were fresh, ready to go, and if anything the rain breaks helped us get little breaks yesterday.”

For the third pacer, while Australia have a ready backup in Scott Boland, who starred in Adelaide with his 5/105, the hosts will certainly be looking at other potential options who can be added to the squad to support the pace attack.

The likes of Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, and Mark Steketee become the likely options then.