Melbourne, Australia

Australia received a massive boost for the Boxing Day Test against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after Travis Head was declared fit to play.

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Cricket Australia management announced on Christmas Day that Head will be available for selection despite complaining of quad strain after the Gabba Test.

As reported by WION on Tuesday, Sam Konstas will also make his debut for Australia in the traditional MCG contest, which will bring the curtains down on the Test calendar.

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Head declared fit for Boxing Day Test

With a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final up for grabs, Australia were eager to get Head into their Playing XI subject to a fitness test. After tests on Wednesday morning, Head was declared fit and will participate in the Boxing Day Test on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). His fitness will be a boost for the management, considering his form for the side in the series, with two hundreds.

"Trav's good to go, he'll play," Aussie skipper Pat Cummins said. "He just ticked off some final things today and yesterday. But no worries about injury with Trav. He'll go into the game fully fit.

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"I don't think you'll see too much management of him throughout the game. He just kind of plays as is. Maybe around fielding, if he's a bit uncomfortable, we will (manage him), but he's fully fit."

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Australia make two changes

In two changes made for the MCG Test, 19-year-old Sam Konstas is set to make his debut for Australia as the youngest-ever opener for the hosts, replacing out-of-favour Nathan McSweeney. The other change sees Scott Boland replace injured Josh Hazlewood with the former returning after playing the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

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