As the dust settles on a rain-hit Gabba Test, the focus now shifts to Melbourne where both India and Australia will be jostling to get past each other to strengthen their foothold in the Border Gavaskar Trophy Series (2024-25). In a bid to consolidate their standing in the series as well as the WTC 2023-25 points table, Australia have announced a series of unprecedented changes to bolster their Test squad ahead of the all-important Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. 

On Friday, Australia unveiled a 15-member squad for the remainder of the BGT series featuring some surprise selections and omissions. As many as four changes were made by the Aussie management following the conclusion of the drawn third Test. Here is a closer look at some of the eye-popping changes made to Australia's Test squad for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests.

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Sam Konstas In and Nathan McSweeney Out

The 25-year-old Australian opener Nathan McSweeney has failed to fire in the series. Often being labeled as the puppet of Jasprit Bumrah, McSweeney could only manage paltry scores of 10, 0, 39, 10, 9 & 4 and averaged a shocking 12 across six innings. He has been dropped from the squad to make way for the 19-year Sam Konstas. 

The youngster showed a great degree of promise with the bat in the two-day game in Canberra by scoring an impressive century against a potent Indian bowling attack. The Chair of Selectors George Bailey revealed in an official statement that it was a tough call for the management to select Konstas over McSweeney but at the same time, he praised the former's batting style and looks forward to seeing his game evolve. 

“Sam gets a call up to the Test squad for the first time. His style of batting offers a point of difference and we look forward to watching his game develop further. We remain confident Nathan has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level in the future. It was a difficult decision to leave him out."

Changes in the pace arsenal

Josh Hazlewood's injury for the second time in the series has cemented Scotty Boland's position in the squad. He is expected to feature as a second pace-bowling option along with Starc in the forthcoming Melbourne Test. In addition, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson, and Beau Webster have also been drafted to the Test squad. 

Abbott has yet to feature for Australia in the longest format but hasn't had much success playing against India in the limited-overs format managing only nice wickets in 12 matches. Jhye has played only three Tests for Australia but maintains a formidable average of 22.09 with 11 wickets to his name. Moreover, the young pacer scripted a memorable performance against India in the white-ball format by recording his career-best ODI bowling figures of 4-26 in the 2018-2019 ODI series. 

The uncapped Beau Webster has a reputation for his all-round abilities and is currently representing Melbourne Stars in the ongoing BBL tournament. Webster has a prolific record in FC cricket and averages nearly 38 with the bat whereas with the ball he has claimed 148 scalps in 93 matches which also included his career-best figures of 6-100. 

Australian squad for the last two Tests against India: 

Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Beau Webster, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson, Alex Carey, Scott Boland, and Josh Inglis.