Former Australia player Mark Waugh has shared his views on Sam Konstas replacing Nathan McSweeney for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar series 2024-25. The selectors made a bold call as they added McSweeney as Usman Khawaja’s partner in the top order after Steve Smith was restored to No. 4. He was touted to be given a long rope, considering the challenge at hand against India speedster Jasprit Bumrah and the new ball as well. Meanwhile, Konstas, who was initially not added when Australia were searching for an opener, was called up after his impressive run of form across formats as well.
“I think they’ve picked the team on winning these last two Test matches, They’re not worrying about the future as much. You always keep an eye on the future, but this is a huge series and you’ve got the World Test Championship, that carrot dangling away as well,” Waugh said on Fox Sports.
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“So I think the selectors, they’re thinking about the MCG Test and the SCG Test. What’s our best team to win those two Test matches? And they think they need a bit more fire power at the top of the order with the bat, maybe.I mean, you couldn’t really drop one of the more experienced players, so it’s probably Nathan McSweeney just through process of elimination, actually,” he further added.
Sam Konstas also played some of his attacking prowess when he dismantled the Indian bowling attack in the pink ball warm-up match in
Canberra. He had scored a quickfire hundred to be back on the selectors’ radar, who might be wishing more of such positive batting in the remaining Tests, according to Mark Waugh as well.
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“He’ll open, I reckon he’s a certainty to open. I think they’ve selected him with the thought process that they need a bit more positive stroke play at the top of the order, particularly with Usman and Marnus struggling slightly. Nathan McSweeney wasn’t scoring either. So I think the young, more aggressive player will play for sure,” Mark Waugh concluded.
