Border Gavaskar Trophy: Australia win toss, to bat in fourth test at MCG

Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth test against India on a scorching day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.

The five-test series is level at 1-1.

India dropped number three Shubman Gill, promoting similarly out-of-form captain Rohit Sharma to the position, while springing a surprise by adding all-rounder Washington Sundar as a second spin bowling option rather than another fast bowler.


The pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep were retained from the drawn Brisbane test.

Australia had already confirmed 19-year-old talent Sam Konstas will make his test debut and open the batting with Usman Khawaja, replacing the dropped Nathan McSweeney.

Fan favourite Scott Boland has replaced injured paceman Josh Hazlewood, returning to the side for his second test of the series after bowling in Adelaide.

With the weather forecast for a scorching 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), meteorologists have said the temperature could nudge record territory for the first day of the traditional Boxing Day test.

Cummins said it looked like a "good pitch".

"Always a bit of grass, looks firm," he added.

Rohit said India would also have chosen to bat.

"We have to bowl well. The series is 1-1 and a lot to play for. We fought really well in (Brisbane)," he said.

Teams:

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

India - Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj