MELBOURNE: Dumped opener Nathan McSweeney said he was “devastated” Saturday after being cast out of Australia’s team after just three Tests against India but vowed to come back a better player.

The 25-year-old won the race to replace the retired David Warner at the top of the order alongside Usman Khawaja but failed to seize the opportunity.

With a high score of just 39, McSweeney was axed from the hosts’ 15-man squad for the final two Tests of the series.

“Devastated. I get the dream come true and then didn’t quite work out the way I wanted,” he told Australia’s Channel Seven. “It’s all part of it and I’ll get my head down and get back in the nets and work really hard, and hopefully be ready to go for my next opportunity. It’s the game we are in. If you don’t take your opportunity, and you are not performing as well as you want to, your position’s never safe.”

Teen sensation Sam Konstas was called up for the first time and is favourite to replace McSweeney when the five-Test series, which is locked at 1-1, resumes on Boxing Day in Melbourne.

Middle-order batsmen Josh Inglis and all-rounder Beau Webster are also in the squad as other options.

Should 19-year-old Konstas play, he would become Australia’s youngest Test debutant since current skipper Pat Cummins took the field against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2011.

Chief selector George Bailey acknowledged it was a “really hard decision” to dump McSweeney but said Australia needed to “throw something different” at India’s pace bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2024