'He's Got The Game To Succeed': Australia Debutant Tipped To Hit Back At Jasprit Bumrah-Led India

Australia sprung a major surprise by selecting Nathan McSweeney in the squad for the first Test against India. The 25 year old is expected to open the batting for Australia with Usman Khawaja in Perth. McSweeney never has opened the batting at the first class level and was asked to open the innings against India A in the second unofficial Test recently. He returned with scores of 14 and 25 respectively, far from impressing the Australian management. Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas were in contention to fill in the void left by David Warner in Test cricket. Harris made 74 in the first innings at the MCG but it didn't prove to be substantial enough to earn a call-up to the Australian squad. McSweeney’s most success came in batting down the order as he has batted mostly at number three in Sheffield Shield and has now been given a major responsibility to face the likes of Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball. His selection attracted severe criticism with former Australian cricketer Ed Cowan termed his selection as a “guess.” Chief Australian selector George Bailey hits back citing McSweeney has all the potential to succeed in the long format. In an interaction with SEN Radio he said, "I'd like to think it's a little more than a guess, Gerard. I guess we could all run our fingers down the list of leading run-scorers or leading wicket-takers and just work our way through the top, but that's not necessarily how cricket teams work. "We like his [McSweeney's] technique, temperament, we think he's got the game to succeed at Test level. "Conscious that it's unlikely that that will be linear here. I don't think there's many people that go through their Test career where that is. "But we think he can succeed, and I also think he complements the team and that's an important factor, too; the balance of what you want your make-up of your XI to look like."