Australia heaved a major sigh of relief on Wednesday after skipper Pat Cummins declared run-machine Travis Head fit for the Boxing Day Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India nemesis Head, the leading scorer of the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, suffered a quad strain in Brisbane.
“He ticked off some final things today and yesterday, but no stress, no worries about injury for Trav,” Cummins told reporters after training on Wednesday.
“He’ll go into the game fully fit. I don’t think you’ll see too much management of him throughout the game … maybe around fielding if he’s a bit uncomfortable.”
Middle order batter Head has tallied 409 runs from five innings in the series, which include two hundreds and a fifty, averaging nearly 82.
Australia have confirmed teenaged opener Sam Konstas will make his debut replacing Nathan McSweeney in front of a sellout Boxing Day crowd at the MCG.
Head and Smith put Australia in control of third India Test
Seamer Scott Boland will be coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood in the other change for the home side in a match when the mercury is forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius on day one.
The five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy remains level at 1-1.
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