Boxing Day Test: Australia announced playing XI; Rohit to open for India | Fourth test match preview

Cricket Australia have already announced their playing XI for the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India. In the meantime, from the Indian camp, the news is that Rohit Sharma will open up for India. As we get closer to the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, here is everything you need to know before the all-important test.

Match Details

Match: Australia vs India

Date: 26 December - 30 December, 2024

Time: 5 am IST

Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia.

Boxing Day Test Session Timings

Toss - 4.30 am IST.

First session - 5 am to 7 am IST.

Second session - 7.40 am to 9.40 am IST.

Third session - 10 am to 12 pm IST.

Where to watch the test match?

Indian fans can watch the test match LIVE on Disney+Hotstar with a paid plan. Moreover, the match will also be televised LIVE on Star Sports TV Channels on Indian Televisions. 

Team News | Australia

Australia have already announced their playing XI for the Boxing Day Test match. For them, it is great news that Travis Head, who had an injury scare after a match-winning performance at the Gabba and Adelaide, is fit enough to play the fourth test. Head won back-to-back Player of the Match awards and has been a big "headache" for the Indian bowling lineup. 

In the two changes for Australia, we will see youngster Sam Konstas will debut, replacing Nathan McSweeney and Scot Boland will replace injured Josh Hazlewood.

Though Nathan McSweeney had played a lot of balls and went through the early troubles thrown by Indian bowlers, he was released from the squad after not scoring that many runs in the three matches of the series. On the other hand, Sam Konstas is one of the most talked about young batters in Australia at the moment and smashed a stunning ton in the practice match he played for the Prime Minister's XI against India in Canberra.

In the bowling lineup, Josh Hazlewood was already ruled out of the third test during the third test and has been replaced by Scot Boland, who has a terrific record in Australia as a pacer. 

Read Also | Boxing Day Test: Indian camp fumes over quality of practice pitches at MCG

The rest of the playing XI is the same for the hosts with Pat Cummins leading the side and Mitchell Starc being his senior-most bowling partner in the pace bowling department. Despite questions over Mitchell Marsh's selection in the side, he was able to keep his place in the playing XI. 

Sam Konstas & Usman Khawaja are set to become the first opening partnership for AUS with an age gap of over 18 years

#AUSvIND

— Swamp (@sirswampthing) December 24, 2024

Australia's Playing XI (Confirmed)

Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

Team News | India

Well, there are lots of movements in the Indian team at the moment. India have not played that well in the last two test matches and that is showing in the rumoured playing XI.

Senior batters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not scored runs and other than Jasprit Bumrah (21 wickets at 10.9) none of the bowlers were able to take wickets. Yashashi Jaiswal has found it had to get going after scoring that ton in the first test. Among all the batters, only KL Rahul looked like the batter who had a proper plan against the Aussie bowlers in these challenging conditions. Moreover, his execution has been superb too. 

But, as per the news we are getting from Australia, captain Rohit Sharma will return as an opener and will bat with Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order. In that case, KL Rahul like always will have to shift his base for the sake of the team. Rahul will come down to number three. 

Read Also | Every Indian batter who scored a Boxing-Day test ton: Rahane and Rahul and more

Virat Kohli is to stay at his favourite number four position and that suggests that Shubman Gill, who also has not scored that many runs in the series, might have to slide down the order to be able to play. Gill's position is still unclear with Rishabh Pant's batting number being five or six. 

💬💬 Jasprit Bumrah's confidence in his skillset, clarity of thought, and simple approach make it very easy for me.#TeamIndia captain Rohit Sharma shares his thoughts on captaining Jasprit Bumrah and his impact in the series so far. 👌#AUSvIND | @ImRo45 | @Jaspritbumrah93 pic.twitter.com/WiXulJhqlj

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 24, 2024

In the all-rounder's department, though Nitish Kumar Reddy has done well in the opportunities he has had so far, looks like Washington Sundar will come into the playing XI replacing him. With the batting form Ravindra Jadeja showed in the last match, there is no way he would miss the rest of the two tests for India.

Jasprit Bumrah will be the leader of the bowling pack with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep continuing his bowling partners. 

India's possible playing XI

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

Boxing-Day Test Match: Fantasy Team Prediction

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Travis Head (C), Ravindra Jadeja, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Mitchell Starc, Scot Boland